Days of Blood Wine and Roses
by Emerald72
Summary: Fourth Multi-Chapter Installment in The Eternity Series. Josef/Mick are living in Paris with Katherine & Roisin. Story of a family facing difficulties & tragedy plus the history of J/M's relationship. Josef/Mick Slash Male/Male Pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Days of Blood Wine & Roses

Rating: ranges from PG13 to NC17

Pairing: Mick/Josef

Warnings: may contain some drug use and explicit descriptions of Male/Male pairing.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Six years after Immortal Beloved. Josef and Mick are living in Paris with Katherine and Roisin. This is the story of their lives, the difficulties & tragedies they must face & the history of Josef's relationship with Mick.

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**Chapter 1**

"Uncle Josef? Tell me a story."

Six years had passed since Josef and Mick had taken their marriage vows for a second time in Paris. They had moved to the French capital after that, taking Katherine and Roisin with them.

The time following had not been without their difficulties, but they had managed to get through those relatively unscathed, a testament to the seeds that had been planted, and allowed to mature, all those years ago. On Josef's insistence Mick had returned to work, setting up his own private investigations company in the heart of down town Paris. Josef still adjusted the sleeves of Mick's shirt and straightened his collars though, that much remained the same.

Josef regarded the six year old blonde cherub seated on his lap with an indulgent smile. He had long since given up correcting her on the use of the term 'Uncle'.

"Yeah go on Uncle Josef." Mick raised an eyebrow and grinned, tilting the glass of scotch in his hand.

Josef rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to Roisin. Katherine had left the two of them in charge of the child for the evening whilst she went out on yet another date. Finding companionship as a vampire was proving more difficult than what Katherine had first thought.

"Sure," Josef shrugged and then gave Mick a pointed smile. "How about I tell you the story of how your Uncle Josef fell in love with your Uncle Mick."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Winter 1968_

"What on earth have you got him in this time Coraline." Josef regarded the figure of Mick St John standing across the room from him dressed in what he presumed was supposed to be latest in high fashion men's suits, complete with ruffles.

"What, you don't like it." Coraline gave a dismissive shrug and then smiled and waved Mick over. "I think he looks adorable."

"Still playing the Madonna whore complex I see." Josef cocked an eyebrow and then raised the glass in his hand in a mock toast.

"Now now you two." Mick had seen the dark look that Coraline had just flashed in Josef's direction as he walked over to join them, "This is supposed to be a party."

"Good evening Mick, long time no see." Josef smiled politely as Mick wrapped his arm around Coraline's waist and drew her close.

Mick acknowledged Josef's greeting with a quick smile and a nod. "You look nice this evening." Mick gestured towards the perfectly and expensive looking black suit Josef was attired in.

"What this old thing?" Josef pretended to inspect the sleeves of his suit coat. "Just something I found in the wardrobe."

"Sure thing." Mick laughed and took a sip of blood from the glass in his hand. If he noticed that Josef hadn't returned his compliment, he wasn't giving any indication.

Mick felt Coraline's hand on his arm them, pulling him away, her voice in his ear insisting that he simply must come and meet....Mick didn't quite catch their name. Truth be known he hated these gatherings. He would have much rather have spent the night alone with Coraline, sharing a freshie or two as they curled up together in front of Coraline's considerably expensive marble fireplace. She liked to bring him out and show him off every now and then and he indulged her that much at least because it made her happy.

"Catch ya round." Josef heard Mick say then as he watched Coraline lead Mick away.

Josef had never really paid that much attention to Mick before. Dressed the way he was that evening though, Mick looked the very image of naïve boyish charm and Josef found himself unwillingly transfixed.

Then Mick turned and waved back over his shoulder, brushing a stray lock of hair from his forehead at the same time.

Josef felt his heart go down to his knees.  
_  
__"Oh dear God no." _Josef smiled at Mick and then quickly turned away, pretending to be preoccupied with pouring himself another drink as he drew in a breath and gritted his teeth.

Josef Kostan had just fallen in love.

"And then what happened?" Roisin looked up at Josef with childish expectation.

"And then your Uncle Josef became my official sleeve straightener and collar adjuster." Mick got in quick before Josef had a chance to reply.

"Really?" Roisin's eyes were wide with amazement.

"No sweetheart." Josef shot Mick a sideways look and then laughed and shook his head. "Your Uncle Mick is just being silly."

Josef shifted Roisin from his lap back to the floor then. "Come on poppet." He said then, getting to his feet and bending down to pick the small child up. "It's time you were going to bed. You've got a big day tomorrow."

So far they had managed endless piles of nappies, skinned knees and all manner of childhood illnesses. Nevertheless neither one of them knew how they were going to manage Roisin's first day at school.

Mick read the worried look on Josef's face and walked over to him.

"We'll be fine." He reassured him with a kiss and then ruffled Roisin's hair and wished her a goodnight.

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"Josef, what are you doing here?" Mick regarded the figure standing at the fence in front of him.

"I could ask you the same thing Mick." Josef turned to face him, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"It's almost lunch time; I was just on my way to grab some refreshment. There's a great new Vamp friendly café that's just opened nearby."

"And of course you just had to come past here on your way." Josef arched an eyebrow and then snorted a laugh. "Roisin will be having lunch soon as well." Josef turned back towards the schoolyard and quickly surveyed the expanse of grounds from his vantage point at the schoolyard fence.

"She'll be fine." Mick drew his arms around Josef's waist and rested his chin on top of Josef's shoulder.

"Yes well." Josef placed a hand over Mick's forearm and leaned back into the embrace. "It doesn't hurt to keep an eye on these things."

"Josef." Mick laughed and then placed an affectionate kiss on the side of Josef's face. "Don't you think you might just look the slightest bit suspicious standing here dressed like that?"

"What do you mean 'suspicious." Josef folded his arms over his chest, his tone defensive.

Mick took a step back and held Josef out to one side, inclining his head towards the long coat, dark sunglasses and fedora hat that Josef was attired in.

"I suppose you're right."

"You know I'm right." Mick laughed and shook his head "You standing there, waiting for school children to appear dressed like that. It's not a good look Josef."

Josef furrowed his brow and then nodded an agreement.

"Come on." Mick said then, draping an arm across Josef's shoulder. "You can join me for lunch."

Josef stole one last quick glance over his shoulder and then reluctantly began to follow Mick away from the schoolyard and Roisin.

"I've missed you." Josef held Mick to him and covered his face and neck with kisses. "You've hardly been home lately."

"I've had a lot of work on Josef." Mick's hands explored the planes and angles of Josef's back, one leg draped over Josef's hip as he moved against him. "You know that."

"I know." Josef moaned as Mick's hand found his erection. "Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to miss you though. So what is it this time," Josef asked then, his hips moving in time to the rhythm of Mick's touch, "cheating husband?"

"Cheating wife."

Mick increased the rate of his attentions on Josef's cock, his own arousal building in response to the whimpers and sighs of pleasure that elicited from Josef's lips.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" Josef pressed his lips to Mick's ears and whispered to him, shifting the position of his body so that Mick was beneath him.

"Twice yesterday and three times the day before that." Mick replied in-between fervent clashes of lips and fangs as Josef reached for the lubricant next to the bed and quickly slicked his cock with the viscous substance.

And then Mick couldn't speak at all because Josef was pressing his legs back against his chest and driving himself into Mick's passage, his cock stroking against Mick's prostate and sending shockwaves of pleasure reverberating throughout Mick's body.

"I'm thirsty" A child's tiny voice called out to them in the dark.

Josef quickly gripped Mick's chin with his fingers and turned his head to the side, away from Roisin.

"Don't let her see your face." Josef hurriedly instructed, his voice inaudible to human ears.

"Roisin." Josef replied out loud, his own visage hidden buried against Mick's shoulder. "Go downstairs; I'll be down in a minute to get you a drink."

"What are you doing?" Roisin took a tentative step towards the bed.

"Nothing sweetheart." Josef tried to keep the tone of his voice light, but found he was unable to suppress the groan that erupted from his throat when he heard Mick add the words.

"We're wrestling."

The answer seemed to satisfy Roisin's curiosity for the time being and she shrugged in that small shouldered way that children do and then turned to leave.

"We're wrestling?" Josef huffed, raising himself up onto outstretched arms and furrowing his brow after Roisin had left the room to go downstairs,

"Well what was I supposed to tell her Josef?"

"How about you don't tell her anything at all."

Mick's formed protest was silenced by Josef's lips as Josef drove himself into Mick's body once more. Reaching a hand down to grip Mick's cock at the same time, Josef urged the both of them to completion, each growling out the rhythm of their respective orgasms as their bodies shuddered with pleasure and they sank their fangs into each others flesh.

When it was over Josef withdrew himself from Mick's body and wiped Mick's fluid from his hand with a convenient towel, before throwing a robe over his naked body and heading downstairs to tend to Roisin.

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"I didn't hear you come in." Josef came downstairs to find Katherine already seated at the kitchen table with Roisin.

"You must be slipping in your old age." Katherine arched an eyebrow and smiled up at Josef as she slipped a glass of water into Roisin's outstretched hand.

"So how was your date?" Josef took a seat at the table next to Katherine, pointedly ignoring her remark about his age.

"More of the same." Katherine forced a smile and waved a dismissive hand, trying to convey the sentiment that more of the same really didn't matter.

Josef saw straight through her charade. "You'll find someone." He told her, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. "Give it time."

"Well I suppose that's one thing I do have plenty of." Katherine replied without a trace of irony and then reached across to cover Josef's hand with her own.

"Uncle Josef." Roisin perched on the edge of the chair, her tiny legs swinging back and forth. "Can I have another story?"

"No darling." Katherine stood up and bent down to pick Roisin up from her seat. "Come on you should have been in bed hours ago."

"Just one, please." Roisin's voice was plaintive, eyes wide and pleading.

"I'll take her." Josef reached for the child in Katherine's arms. "I think we've got time for one quick story."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
_  
__Winter 2008_

Josef awoke the following evening to find Mick already dressed and standing at the bedroom window, gazing out over Lestat's garden expanse.

"Evening." Josef greeted Mick with a kiss, "How are you feeling?"

Mick hesistated and then drew in a breath. "Fine, a little sore." He replied, wrapping a tentative arm around Josef's waist.

"You'll get used to it." Josef smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "Takes practice. Any regrets?" Josef drew his own arm around Mick's shoulder and pulled him close.

"No." Mick's reply was a little too quick off the mark; he paused again and then repeated his answer with more assurance.

"No, but…?" Josef left the rest of the sentence unfinished, leaving the door open for Mick to respond.

"I never expected this." Mick paused again and then added, "Us I mean."

Josef tried to convey his assurance that they were in the same boat, that he hadn't expected this either. Mick nodded a brief understanding and continued on.

"I mean I know I've fallen in love with you," Mick swallowed back a nervous lump, "It's just not…"

"What you expected to happen?" Josef reiterated, finishing Mick's sentence for him.

"No." Mick let out a reluctant breath, the lines of his forehead creased.

"Give it time." Josef's reply was simple, his arm drawing tighter around Mick's shoulder.

"Well I suppose that's one thing we both have plenty of."

Mick turned to face Josef then, allowing himself to be drawn into Josef's embrace as they stood together in that moment and pondered an uncertain future.

Roisin was asleep by the time Josef had finished telling the story. Of course he had left out some of the finer details, like exact dates and the fact that Mick had felt sore.

Bending over to place an affectionate kiss on the sleeping child's brow, Josef wished her a goodnight and then returned to his own room and Mick.

"So when are we planning to tell her, Josef?" Mick asked as Josef climbed into the freezer to lie next to him.

"Tell her what Mick?" Josef pretended he didn't know what Mick was talking about.

"About us, about what we are."

Mick had had this conversation with Josef before. It always followed the same pattern.

"It's not up to me, you know that." Josef dropped the pretence and then fell silent, staring up at the frosted glass of the freezer as he contemplated the ramifications of telling Roisin that her Mother and both her Uncles were members of the undead.

"So when are we going to tell her Josef?" Mick felt a sudden sense of déjà vu as he regarded the 12 year old girl seated across the room from him, legs tucked up underneath her and freckled snub nose buried in a book.

"It's not up to me, you know that."

Mick rolled his eyes and let out a sigh of breath, already having pre-empted Josef's answer.

"She asked me again last night why she never sees any of us eat." Mick's tone was pointed.

"And what did you tell her?"

"Same as what I've told her for the last six years Josef, that we work strange hours and we eat at different times."

"And," Josef turned towards Mick, brow arched, "Did she believe you?"

"For now."

Mick watched then as Josef made his way over to Roisin and sat down beside her on the couch.

"Is that any good?" Josef asked, indicating the book in Roisin's hands.

"Mmm hmm." Roisin swung her legs out in front of her and turned to the next page.

"What's it about?" Josef's attempts at drawing Roisin into conversation were met with an indifferent shrug and yet another monosyllabic answer.

"Vampires."

"Really." Mick flashed a pointed smile in Josef's direction.

"Yeah." Roisin lifted her head from the page she was reading, her voice suddenly animated. "It'd be cool if Vampires really did exist, wouldn't it Uncle Mick."

Josef drew in a quick breath, unsure if Roisin's words were wishful thinking on a child's behalf or the sign of some deeper knowledge.

"Well you never know. They may be closer than what you think." Josef heard Mick say then, the tone of his voice a not so subtle hint.

Josef shot Mick a warning look and then gently pried the book from Roisin's grasp.

"Come on." Josef said then, trying to keep the tone of his voice casual as he reached for Roisin and drew her to her feet. "Your Mother's waiting for you outside. I'd suggest you hurry it along unless you intend to be late for your school excursion"

"You seem drawn to this particular painting Roisin?" Pierre Lamont approached his young student cautiously, studying her face as she stood and stared at the portrait on the wall of the Louvre with rapt fascination.

"It's my Uncle." Roisin's voice was filled with amazement as her gaze roamed across the canvas. "Well I mean it's not_ my_ Uncle, it can't be." She quickly corrected herself, "But it looks just like him." Roisin pointed to the small bronze plaque just below the portrait of the 18th century nobleman. "Look, same name and everything."

"Your Uncle's name is Josef Kostan?" Pierre Lamont couldn't be sure how much the child in front of him knew. He tried to keep his voice as even as possible as he placed a scholarly hand on Roisin's arm and said, "I'd like to meet your Uncle sometime, perhaps he's a distant relation of the man in that picture."

"Yeah maybe." Roisin shrugged and turned away, prying her eyes from the portrait in front of her.

"Wait." Pierre held out a hand to stop Roisin's leaving and then drew a small card from the pocket of his well worn tweed pants. "Give this to your Uncle." He instructed Roisin with a smile. "I really would love to meet the man in that picture."

"Sure." Roisin furrowed her brow for a moment and then shrugged and accepted the card from Pierre Lamont's outstretched hand. "He works weird hours though."

"Oh I'm sure he does." Pierre muttered under his breath and then watched as Roisin began to walk away, her attention focused on the next portrait in line.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"No, N-o I won't hear another word of it." Katherine's mouth was set in a determined line, "She's just a child Josef. She doesn't need to know that monsters exist, not yet."

"Is that what you think we are?" Josef stared at Katherine for a moment, the expression on his face incredulous.

Realising they were on the verge of moving into an argument that had nothing to do with the topic at hand, Josef paused for a moment and drew a few calming breaths.

"Anyway," Josef brushed aside his previous response with a dismissive wave of a hand, "that's beside the point. If this Pierre Lamont knows who I am then it's conceivable he also knows what I am." Josef drew another breath and then reiterated his final point, "Isn't it better coming from us rather than Roisin finding out through some virtual stranger?"

"That's if he knows anything at all, which we don't know for certain if he does." Katherine's argument sounded hollow even to her own ears. Folding her arms across her chest she added a defiant; "Roisin is my daughter Josef, what I say goes."

Josef bit his tongue and nodded a curt agreement knowing it would do no good to argue, Katherine was every bit as headstrong as he was on occasion. He watched then as she turned heel and strode out of the room, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He admired her spirit, he had to give her that much at least, even if he thought she was completely wrong.

"So tell me again what this Pierre Lamont guy wants with you exactly?" Mick glanced over his shoulder as he moved past Josef and grabbed a couple of shirts from their hangers in the wardrobe.

"I don't know." Josef shrugged and then repeated what had transpired earlier.

"There's a picture of some guy who looks just like you hanging in the Louvre Uncle Josef, same name and everything." Roisin had bounded into Josef's office and blurted with childlike enthusiasm.

"Oh really?"

Josef had pretended to look thoroughly surprised. Wracking his brain trying to recall exactly when and where the portrait had been painted, he mentally crossed his fingers and hoped Roisin hadn't picked up on the way his hands trembled slightly as he straightened a pile of papers on the desk in front of him.

"Yeah really. It's way cool, you're almost kinda famous." Roisin had sat perched cross legged on Josef's desk then and handed him Pierre Lamont's business card. "My teacher thought it was cool too, he wants to meet you."

"I don't like the sound of this at all Josef." Mick grabbed a couple more shirts from the wardrobe and hastily packed them into the suitcase on the bed.

"Neither do I." Josef watched as Mick busied himself grabbing changes of socks and underwear from the drawers next to the bed. "I wish you didn't have to leave."

"I know." Mick stopped what he was doing and walked over to Josef, wrapping his arms around Josef's neck and drawing him into an embrace. "It can't be helped though, it's just work, you know. I've caught an important break on that embezzling case from last month; I need to follow the money trail…" Mick let his voice trail off as he pressed his lips against Josef's and placed an affectionate kiss. "You'll manage." Mick tried to add his reassurance to the situation then.

"I shan't you know." Josef buried his face in Mick's shoulder and pretended to sound perfectly miserable. "I shall positively wither and die."

"Don't be melodramatic Josef." Mick laughed and pointedly tapped a finger against the side of Josef's face.

"Jerk." Josef leant back in Mick's arms and grinned at him.

"Idiot." Mick shot back with a serving of the same. Mick's expression fell serious then. "I'll stay if you want to me?"

"Don't be stupid Mick." Josef chided him gently, "You're right, I'll manage. You know Katherine's taken Roisin out for ice-cream and soda." Josef tilted his head to one side then and arched an inviting eyebrow. "We've got the house to ourselves."

"Your idea of a going away present hey Josef?" Mick ran his hands over the muscular angles of Josef's back. "What are you planning to do to welcome me home?"

"You'll find out." Josef's voice was low and seductive in Mick's ear, his hands moving to the belt on Mick's jeans. "Let me give you a proper farewell first though."

"Oh fuck." Mick's fingers dug sharply into the flesh of Josef's back, lips drawn back and fangs bared as Josef thrust into him, eliciting another round of furious snarls and growls from Mick's lips.

Downstairs Katherine and Roisin arrived home earlier than expected.

"Mum?"

Katherine followed Roisin's gaze, to the noises coming from above.

"Your Uncles must have the TV turned up too loud again." Katherine hurriedly tried to reassure her young daughter. "I'll go and tell them to lower the volume a bit."

Katherine stole a quick glance over her shoulder as she started to walk away; the expression on Roisin's face was evident.

She didn't believe her mother for a moment.

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Josef scented the man before he even saw him approach, nostrils flaring, drawing in the familiar smell of a fellow Vampire. Judging by the potency of Pierre Lamont's scent, Josef figured him to be older than Mick but not quiet as old as he was.

"Josef Kostan." Pierre Lamont strode towards Josef, hand stretched out in front of him. "Your reputation precedes you."

He was tall, just shy of six foot, his mane of black hair curling in loops and whorls over his shoulders. He moved with the fine boned grace and assurance of an aristocrat, although his manner of dress was more that of the English scholar.

"Yours does not." Josef pointedly refused to raise his own hand, drawing back his lips in a parody of a smile instead, his fangs descended and a low growl curling from the back of his throat.

Pierre heeded the warning and hastily lowered his hand, pretending to brush away pieces of imaginary lint from his trousers as he did so.

"What exactly do you want?" Josef cut straight to the chase, "Because it seems clear to me that you're not here to discuss Roisin's academic progress."

"That picture is a rather uncanny likeness you know." Pierre gestured toward the portrait of Josef hanging on the wall in front of them. He had specifically asked that they meet in this particular section of the Gallery. "Who was the artist?"

"Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin. It's written on the plaque beneath if you cared to actually read it." Josef's tone was curt. "And you haven't answered my question."

"The French master of still life." Pierre tapped a finger against his lips in a momentary gesture of thought. "An excellent choice."

Pierre Lamont smiled, his head inclined downwards in the hint of a bow. Sensing Josef's growing impatience with what he must surely have perceived as a skirting of the issue that had bought them here in the first place. Pierre drew himself up to his full height and turned to face Josef then.

"In answer to your question." He offered Josef another gracious smile, "I can assure you I mean neither yourself nor any member of your family any harm, quite the opposite in fact. I have come to offer you a proposal that I think will make life easier for all of you and for Roisin."

He drew a card from the top pocket of his old English plaid coat and held it out between forefinger and thumb for Josef to take. On it the words "School of Knowledge," written in French, were printed in elegant black typeset.

"It's a special school, very exclusive and open only to a select few." Pierre quickly explained when he saw the questioning look that passed over Josef's face. "A school for mortal children such as Roisin who's family happens to be Vampires. She will be protected and she will be able to learn the history of our nation and the need for secrecy."

"Well that's all very well and good and noble of you, Pierre." Josef turned the card over in his hand, studying the craftsmanship of it. "Except for one small problem, Roisin is not yet aware of the exact nature of her family."

"Ah, I see." Pierre furrowed his brow for a moment. "Might I suggest you tell her sooner rather than later, if I may be so bold of course."

"Don't think I haven't wanted to." Josef's tone was indignant, "but it's not up to me. Her mother is the one who is reluctant to reveal our secret to her only daughter"

"And I'm sure she has her reasons." Again the same gracious smile and polite tone of voice. Despite his obvious disapproval of the situation, Pierre Lamont was nothing if not the epitome of the perfect gentleman. "All I ask is that you think about what I've said and the offer that I've presented to you."

Josef nodded his agreement and then watched as Pierre Lamont turned and moved away at Vamp speed, seeming to almost vanish into thin air.

"Say that again?" Mick's voice on the other end of the line was a mixture of bemusement and concern.

"Pierre Lamont is a Vampire." Josef repeated and then once again ran through the exact events that had transpired earlier that afternoon.

Josef could hear Mick's hesitation and then Mick was asking Josef for his opinion, questioning this Vampire Lamont's motives and what exactly Josef's own impressions of the matter at hand really were.

"He seems harmless enough, a tad on the stuffy side from what I was able to observe of him, but harmless nonetheless." Josef drew in a quick breath and then hurriedly added, "I don't think he means any ill will towards any of us put it that way."

"Still it can't hurt to just keep an eye on things." Mick stretched back on the bed of the hotel room he had been staying in for the past two days. "I'll be home tomorrow evening; we can discuss this at length with Katherine then."

Mick's tone left no room for doubt that he personally thought a discussion of this nature was well overdue. Josef let out a reluctant breath and then added his own agreement.

"Where are you exactly at the moment?" Josef asked then, the conversation beginning to shift.

"Stretched out comfortably on the bed in my hotel room, enjoying the sound of your voice." Mick's tone was playful, almost seductive.

"What are you wearing?"

"Jeans and a t-shirt, I'd only just gotten in when you rang, haven't had a chance to change into something more comfortable just yet."

"Get undressed." Josef's voice was a seductive whisper, "I want to listen to you."

Josef let his eyes fall shut, focusing on the sounds of zippers and other fastenings being undone, clothes being shed and tossed to one side.

And then he was listening to the unmistakable sound of hand on flesh as Mick's palm and fingers curled around his hardness, his breath coming in ragged gasps of pleasure as he began to stroke the length of himself.

Josef's hand reached for his own erection then, his fingers curling around its girth. He tried to time the rate of his own strokes in response to the whimpers and sighs of delight he could hear coming from Mick, varying the tempo and grip as he worked his own hand up and down the shaft of his cock.

"Are you close?" Josef's voice was a whispered hiss.

"Yes. Fuck yes." Josef could hear the tremor in Mick's voice, the way he seemed to gasp out each word as he hung suspended on a knife's edge.

"Good. Then stop."

"You bastard." The frustration in Mick's voice was evident even as he obeyed Josef's instruction.

"Shut up, you enjoy this as much as I do."

Mick swore then he could almost hear Josef grinning.

Josef waited until he was sure he had heard the shift in Mick's breathing that indicated a drop in his level of arousal and then instructed him to start again. The game continued for the next hour, Josef tantalising and teasing Mick, luring him to the very edge of the abyss and then pulling him away from it over and over again.

When neither one of them could stand the build up of tension any longer, Josef finally spoke the words Mick was desperate to hear.

"Don't stop this time, keep going."

Mick's hand formed an open fist around the shaft of his cock, his hips thrusting erratically as he pumped the length of himself from base to tip. He pressed his wrist to his mouth, body trembling with anticipation as he felt the first tremors of an impending climax move through him.

"Come." Josef's own hand worked the length of his erection at an increasingly frantic pace as he whispered the single word instruction to Mick.

They both sailed off the edge together then, their vocalisations of pleasure reduced to incoherent snarls and moans as they rode out their respective orgasms and sank their fangs deep into their own flesh.

"Remind me to go away more often." Mick chuckled when they were both spent.

"I'd much rather you were here with me and I was the one doing that for you, Mick."

"Hmm, good point."

Mick said his goodbyes then, his eyelids growing heavy, needing to end the phone call and get some much needed rest.

"Mick, wait." Josef called out to him. "Don't hang up."

"What, why?" Mick stifled a yawn and swapped the receiver over to his other ear.

"Put the phone next to you, I want to listen to you fall asleep."

"Josef." Mick laughed in exasperation and shook his head. "I'll be home tomorrow you know."

"I know." Josef's voice was plaintive. "Just do it for me though, please Mick? I miss you."

"You sap." Mick snorted another laugh and then placed the receiver next to his head on the pillow.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Where's Katherine?"

Mick walked through the open doorway suitcase in hand and quickly glanced over the room in front of him.

"Welcome home, Mick." Josef regarded Mick with a sarcastic grin, arms folded across his chest and eyebrows cocked. "I missed you too."

"Really?" Mick placed the suitcase on the ground and walked over to Josef, drawing his arms around Josef's waist and placing an affectionate kiss on his lips. "I hadn't noticed," Mick pressed his lips to Josef's ear then and added in a teasing whisper, "Mr 'please place the phone next to your head on the pillow so I can listen to you fall asleep'."

"Yes, Mick, ha ha very funny." Josef scoffed and rolled his eyes, setting his mouth into a mock indignant smile.

"Oh come on, Josef." Mick laughed and drew Josef closer. "Don't be like that; you know I missed you too."

They stayed like that for a few moments, hands caressing languid circles over the planes of each other's backs, reveling in a moment of closeness shared before Mick broke away from the embrace and spoke once more.

"Josef, where's Katherine? We really do need to talk to her about this situation with  
Roisin."

"Don't you want to take that up to our room first?" Josef gestured towards the suitcase, "Get unpacked, get comfortable, relax, let me give you a proper welcome home."

Josef's tone was nonchalant, but Mick knew he was trying to delay the inevitable.

"Come on. "Mick reached out and cupped Josef's chin with his fingers, tilting his face towards his. "We've got plenty of time for that." Mick leaned forward and placed another quick kiss on Josef's lips before letting his hand fall back to his side and adding quietly. "Go get Katherine, we can't put this conversation off any longer, it's too important."

"When did you turn into Mr Maturity, Mick St John?" Josef muttered under his breath as he turned to walk away.

"Ever since I realised you have trouble setting boundaries with your fledglings, Josef Kostan." Mick tossed back and then laughed when he saw Josef raise his hand over his shoulder and give him the finger.

"Josef, we've been through this before." Katherine pressed the pads of her fingers to her forward in a gesture borne of tiredness and frustration. "I don't want Roisin to know, not yet."

"Katherine-" Josef went to speak but Mick interrupted him, leaning forward in his seat and asking Katherine point blank for the reason behind her reluctance.

"Because she's just a child." Katherine raised her eyes and looked first at Mick and then at Josef, addressing them both. "And you know as well as I do that once she enters our world she can't ever go back."

"Noone's talking about turning Roisin." Josef's tone was far sharper than he intended, his own expression incredulous.

"I never said anyone was." Katherine let out a frustrated and then paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I just want Roisin to have a normal childhood. I don't want her hiding in the shadows because of us, not knowing who she can and can't trust and having to keep secrets from those she might care about because mortals aren't meant to know we exist. I don't want my daughter to feel caught between two very different worlds, not yet."

"She already is though, Katherine." Josef moved over to where Katherine sat on the couch opposite, and placed a concerned arm around her shoulder. "She just doesn't know it."

"I know." Katherine's voice was barely above a whisper, her hands clenched, white knuckled fingers entwined together. She swallowed back a lump of emotion and stopped to gather her thoughts once more before she spoke again. "And I know she has to be told eventually, just not yet, not now, please."

"When then?" It was Mick's turn to speak. His tone of voice held no recrimination, just a gentle probing for knowledge to be revealed.

"When she's sixteen." Katherine answered without hesitation. "I will tell her on her sixteenth birthday."

"What a great idea." Josef suddenly quipped with sarcastic breeze, snorting a laugh before proceeding to engage in a brief mock soliloquy. "Happy birthday darling, here's your cake, here are your presents, oh and by the way your entire family are undead. Many happy returns of the day."

"Ok then Mr Smarty pants," Katherine turned to face Josef directly, hands on hips and mouth set in a determined line, "what would you suggest."

"Well personally I agree with Mick." Josef's expression fell serious, all traces of his previous sarcasm gone. "I do think we should tell Roisin sooner rather than later." He held up a pre-emptive hand to stop any intended protests on Katherine's part and continued on. "But that doesn't mean I don't understand your reasons for not wanting to do so and you are her mother so…"

Josef let his voice trail off and gestured with his hand to finish the sentence.

"Just let's not spoil the poor girl's sweet sixteenth by telling her on her actual birthday." Mick added with a laugh. "I really think that's one present she could do without."

"So what do we do about this in the meantime, we can't just keep lying to her." Katherine heard Josef asking her then, her answer readied.

"Boarding school. Hear me out." Katherine held up her own hand and then waited; wanting to make sure she had both Josef and Mick's undivided attention before she spoke again. "I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I know Roisin has started asking a lot of questions and I know we can't keep lying to her-"

"-so instead we're just going to send her away and sweep the issue under the carpet? Out of sight out of mind, is that it?" Mick shook his head, struggling to understand Katherine's line of reasoning.

"No we're not just going to sweep the issue under the carpet, Mick." Katherine held Mick's gaze with her own, her tone pointed. "This is as much for Roisin's benefit as it is for ours. There are some excellent schools which offer full time boarding options, where she can be afforded the best education opportunities possible and in the meantime, until she turns sixteen, it also means she won't be around us all the time to accidentally witness anything that might prove too revealing."

Katherine stood up then, brushing a hand over the creases of her skirt in a pointed gesture designed to indicate that as far as she was concerned there was nothing else for them to discuss.

Just before she went to take her leave, Katherine turned to Mick and reiterated her decision. "And if you tell her before then…" She added, leaving the rest of the words unsaid, her warning clear nonetheless.

Josef was suddenly on his feet, moving with lightening quick precision towards his fledgling.

"Katherine, you are my childe and I love you." Josef's hand gripped Katherine's face, his voice low, his pointed use of the more archaic term for fledgling emphasising the centuries of age that separated them. "But don't ever threaten Mick in front of me again."

"She's a fiery one sometimes isn't she?" Mick laughed and moved over to where Josef stood, watching after Katherine's retreating form once Josef had released her and she had managed to stammer out a nervous apology before turning heel and quickly walking away. "And you admire for her it." He added, wrapping his arms around Josef's neck and placing an appreciative kiss on the side of his face.

Josef's agreement came in the form of a quick toss of his head and the snort of a laugh.

"Come on." Josef disengaged himself from Mick's embrace and then reached for his hand. "We should go to bed. I still haven't given you a proper welcome home yet."

Josef grinned at Mick and arched an eyebrow before he began to lead the both of them towards their bedroom, laughing when he heard Mick say.

"You know you're so gallant sometimes, Josef, always ready to defend me against threats and dishonour. Anyone would think you came from a different time."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"So you agree with Katherine's idea then?" Mick lay back on the bed, naked, one arm tucked behind his head, shivering every now and then in response to Josef's fingers as they traced their way absentmindedly over his torso. "Sending Roisin to boarding school I mean."

"Mmm." Josef's reply was a distracted murmur, hands exploring Mick's body laid out before him. "I guess so; it's a solution to the problem at least."

"Yeah I know that, Josef, but…" Mick's words were cut off as Josef shimmied down the bed and took his erection into his mouth. Mick gasped at the initial sensation, hands reaching down to grip the sides of Josef's skull.

"Where did you say Roisin was tonight, again?" Mick managed to stammer out a few moments later, in-between soft snarls and staccato breaths.

"A sleepover, some friend's of hers from school." Josef raised his head and commented matter of fact. "I thought it best that we discussed the situation without her accidentally overhearing us."

"Good thinking."

Mick allowed himself to relax completely into the sensations washing over him then. Josef's fingers stroking him, penetrating, Josef's lips and tongue working their magic over his length, bringing him to the edge of release and keeping him hovering there, stretched out taut and exquisite.

"Josef for Christ sake." Mick blurted in frustration an hour later. "Are you welcoming me home or punishing me?"

"Both." Josef quickly shot back up along Mick's body, his hand still encircling Mick's cock, teasing him with slow measured strokes. "You shouldn't have called me a sap the other night, Mick" Josef propped himself up onto one shoulder as he arched an eyebrow and grinned down at Mick lying beneath him. "Besides that," Josef pressed his lips against the side of Mick's face and purred, "I want to hear you scream."

"Oh fuck." Mick drew in a sharp breath; his words partly muffled as Josef's mouth sort his.

Josef drew an arm around Mick's shoulders and held him close. A grin of self satisfaction tugging at the corners of his mouth he continued exploring and teasing Mick's body, stroking and penetrating him with expert fingers until he had reduced Mick to incoherent moans of pleasure.

Reaching for the tube of lubricant next to the bed, Josef hurriedly slicked himself with a small amount of the contents and then hooked Mick's legs over his shoulders. Bending forward and crushing his mouth against Mick's lips, Josef pressed himself against Mick's entrance and began to penetrate him, slowly, continuing the torturous build up of sensations flowing through Mick's body.

Mick dug his fingers into the flesh of Josef's back and hissed a clenched teeth whisper of "Please."

"Scream for me." Josef pressed his lips against Mick's ear and growled to him then, placing one hand under Mick's hips as he began to slam into him, hard and fast, working his hand over Mick's cock at the same time and urging him to completion.

Every muscle in Mick's body tensed, trembling with anticipation as he hung suspended on the edge of a knife. And then he was falling into an abyss of pleasure, letting out a single ear shattering cry of release and sinking his fangs hard into the flesh at the top of Josef's shoulder.

Josef winced with the momentary exquisite pain and thrust forward one last time, his fangs sunk deep into Mick's neck as he growled and rode out the crest of his own orgasm.

They lay together in silence afterwards, both drawn out, spent and complete, until Mick laughed and said. "You know, Josef, the next time you want to teach me a lesson it might be advisable for you to actually try and pick something that I'm not really going to enjoy that much."

Mick drew his arms tighter around Josef's shoulders then, drawing him closer as he kissed the side of Josef's face and whispered, "I love you."

"Ditto."

And then Josef was pulling away from the embrace, withdrawing himself from Mick's body.

"Come on." Josef instructed, grinning and holding out his hand for Mick to take. "Freezer time you, I think we could both do with a session in the icebox after that."

---------------------------------------------------

"Did you have a nice time sweetheart?"

Katherine watched as her daughter came bounding through the open door way of the kitchen, blonde hair scrunched into a loose bun on top of her head and face scrubbed fresh.

"Yep." Roisin dumped her bags unceremoniously on the floor and hoisted herself up onto the bench, swinging her legs out in front of her as she chewed the straw in her juice box. "So did Uncle Mick and Uncle Josef get to watch TV whilst I was away?" Roisin took a sip of her juice and flashed her mother a smile of affected childlike innocence.

Hearing what Roisin had just said as he rounded the corner, Josef was forced to quickly turn away lest he spit the blood in his mouth back into the glass in his hand right in front of her.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin asked, head tilted to the side and brow furrowed with curiosity. "What are you drinking, it looks funny?"

"It's…"

"…tomato juice." Katherine hurriedly explained to her daughter.

Roisin shrugged and appeared happy with her Mother's explanation.

"Why don't you take your bags upstairs and then have a shower and get changed." Katherine gently directed Roisin then. "And come back downstairs when you're done, there's something I'd like us to discuss."

Katherine watched as her daughter hopped off the bench onto the floor and sauntered away with all the casual non energy of a pre-teenager trying to look world weary and cool.

"Do you want me to fetch Mick?" Josef came up behind Katherine and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Would you?" Katherine reached for Josef's hand and squeezed it gratefully.

Katherine had gone over this conversation in her own mind so many times that she thought she was prepared for any eventualities, from tears and refusal to bored indifference. What she didn't expect was complete unabashed excitement from her young daughter.

"Boarding school?" Roisin's eyes lit up when her Mother placed a number of brochures in her hand and then quickly explained her thoughts on the matter, purposefully leaving out the part about Vampire her own desire for family secrecy before her daughter was of a certain age. "When can I go?"

"Great." Josef sat opposite Katherine and Roisin on the lounge and pretended to look crestfallen. "She's sick of us already."

"Uncle Josef." Roisin scurried over and clambered onto Josef's lap, her child's face bunched into an expression of contrition. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know that." Josef rolled his eyes in faux annoyance and then grinned and tapped his finger against Roisin's freckle snubbed nose. "What are you so excited about anyway? I thought the idea of boarding school would be far too stuffy and boring for a young go getter like you."

"Wait here." Roisin raced off with childish exuberance and returned waving a book in her hand. "It's this book I've been reading Uncle Josef." Roisin sat cross legged on the lounge next to Josef and waved the pages under his nose, her words tumbling forth in a rush of excitement. "It's all about Vampires and it's set in a Boarding School. Do you think there'll be Vampires at the Boarding School I'm going to? That'd be way cool if there were."

"Only the ones who come to visit you." Mick remarked under his breath, the level of his voice too low for Roisin to have heard, and then quickly shifted out of the firing line of a pre-empted elbow in the ribs from Josef seated next to him.

"I'll have to read that book when you're finished with it." Josef ignored Mick's remarks and gave Roisin an indulgent smile, trying not to laugh at the thought of what yet another mortal author had decided to pen when it came to the subject of Vampires.

"I've finished with it now." Roisin shrugged and handed the book to Josef, momentarily returning to her previous stance of pre-teen boredom before she put on a smile of faux innocence and announced casually, "By the way, Uncle Josef, you and Uncle Mick don't need to turn the TV up so loud when you're in your room together you know. I just thought I should let you know that, you know just incase you were worried about me hearing you."

Josef's planned reply of overly polite thanks was halted mid stream when Roisin, unable to suppress the grin tugging at the corners of her upturned mouth, followed up with. "It's not like I don't know you're having sex up there."

"Roisin" Katherine pressed a finger against her lips and quickly hissed at her daughter to, "Be quiet."

"What?" Roisin looked at her mother defiantly, the rebellious streak of a girl on the verge of becoming a teenager showing through. "It's true; I'm not stupid you know, what else do you expect me to think when I can hear them doing this…?"

Roisin proceeded then to put on a show of mimicking the vocalisations of pleasure she had heard coming from her Uncle's bedroom on more than one occasion, complete with exaggerated groans and over the top facial expressions.

"Roisin!" Katherine's expression fell mortified as Mick hurriedly reached for the glass of Scotch in front of him and Josef pressed his fist against his mouth and tried not to burst out laughing. "There's no need to discuss your Uncle's private business in public like that." Katherine looked at her daughter pointedly and then quickly steered the conversation back to the topic at hand, reiterating the benefits of attending Boarding School to her precocious daughter.

"When can I go?" Roisin promptly forgot about her previous interest in her Uncle's sex life and repeated her earlier question, her expression once again that of a wide eyed excited child.

"Well I don't know yet sweetheart." Katherine drew in a patient breath. "We have to enroll you first and term doesn't start for another three weeks…"

"Three weeks?" Roisin threw up her hands and then pouted with childish frustration.

"Well we might be able to get you in sooner, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a student enrolling earlier than the start of term, if we can work something out?" Katherine looked at Josef then, her brow furrowed in a question.

"Thanks Mum, you're the best." Roisin shot off the couch and went over to wrap her arms around her Mother's neck. "I'll go start packing so I can be ready whenever I have to leave, ok?"

"Well that settles that then." Josef grinned and tilted the glass in his own hand as he watched Roisin scurry out of the room.

"I'm still not sure about this whole Boarding School plan, Josef." Mick lay on the bed next to his husband, mirroring the position of his body. "What if something goes wrong and we're not there to protect her?"

"Well you don't think I'm going to send my only human niece off by herself without an escort do you, Mick?" Josef huffed in momentary indignation and then drew a hand around the back Mick's neck and drew him closer.

"Come on." Josef arched an inviting eyebrow at Mick then, "We should see what's on TV; apparently they've been putting on quite a good show lately."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
**

"And you're pleased with this then I take it?"

Pierre Lamont looked at Josef seated across the school desk opposite him and tapped a concentrated finger against his lips, the line of his brow etched in thought.

"Roisin seems happy enough." Josef shrugged and tipped the glass of blood in his hand up to his lips. He sipped at the contents and regarded Pierre's expression for a moment, before he placed the glass back down on the table in front of him along with a single word gauntlet. "Why?"

"No reason." Pierre Lamont smiled and looked to distract Josef then whilst he considered how much to reveal to him. "Here." He said, pushing a page of writing towards Josef. "This is the sort of asinine drivel I have to put up with marking as a so called teacher of the arts and written language in the mortal sphere of things."

"Insane howler monkeys on acid could write better than this." Josef commented on the abuse of language in front of him with a tilt of his head and the brief arch of any eyebrow and then handed the paper back to Pierre. "But we're not here to discuss the death throes of the written word now are we?"

"No, we're not." Pierre nodded briefly and then drew in a breath, choosing his next words carefully. "What do you know of the activities of the group that calls themselves 'The Legion'?"

"Bunch of renegade mortals, dedicated to maintaining the correct balance and order between vampires and humans. They haven't been active in decades." Josef replied matter of fact, regarding the tweed coated vampire seated in front of him with a certain measure of suspicion and curiosity.

"Well they're active again." Pierre rested his elbows on the table in front of him and pressed the tips of his fingers together in the shape of a triangle.

"And you know this how?" Josef's casual tone belied his sudden shift of posture, spine ramrod stiff against the back of the chair, shoulders squared and senses heightened.

Pierre Lamont nodded and then offered Josef a polite smile then. With a casual flick of his right hand, he allowed the sleeve of his shirt to ride up ever so slightly, revealing the mark he bore on his wrist.

It was a scar in the shape of a dragon, slightly raised, made by what Josef assumed must have been some sort of branding instrument.

Josef surmised that Pierre must have carried the mark on his body for some time before he was turned. A vampire's body was frozen in time at the moment of their siring, fresh scars and injuries inflicted either before or after that point would have healed almost instantaneously.

What Josef couldn't figure out was why the unassuming looking scholar seated in front of him bore the mark of an order he had thought legend until scant moments ago.

"So the myths are true then?" Josef prompted, studying Pierre Lamont's features with pointed fascination.

"Quite true." Pierre adjusted the sleeve of his shirt and then leant back in his seat, shifting his elbows to rest on his stomach, fingers still pressed together in a pyramid held out in front of him.

"So let me see if I have this correct." Josef cocked his head and then waved a pointed hand through the air in front of him. "You're trying to tell me, that you are part of the Order of…"

"Dracul." Pierre finished for him, the word rolling off his tongue with matter of fact ease. "And yes, as I've already indicated, that is correct.

"But how…why…when…I mean?" Josef stumbled over his words, a myriad of questions racing through his mind.

"One thing at a time Josef Kostan, please." Pierre laughed with good humour. "I may be legendary to you but I don't quite have the ability to answer a million and one questions all at once."

Pierre Lamont proceeded then to weave a tale of scholarly days spent under the tutelage of an old English master in the 18th century city of Dresden. He spoke of how his teacher had spotted a certain affinity for languages and studies within his eager student. How that same teacher had been revealed to him as one of the undead, laying the gift of eventual Immortality at his young charges feet in return for ten mortal years of dedicated study and eventual initiation into the order he now claimed membership.

"Why are you telling me any of this?" Josef sat forward in his chair, brow furrowed in concentration, his attention focused in a single beam of concentration on the words that had Pierre had formed in the air between them.

"Because I happen to be rather fond of your young niece." The concern in Pierre's voice was evident.

"Right." Josef directed the point of a no nonsense finger towards Pierre Lamont. "Start talking, if Roisin's in any sort of trouble I want to know about it."

"Katherine, this is not up for debate." Josef pressed the pads of his fingers against his temples, weary of Katherine's protests and counter points against what she had just been told.

"Josef." Katherine paced the floor in front of him, hands gesturing in frustration. "You walk in here and announce that Roisin is currently at risk of peril at the hands of some group calling themselves 'The Legion', a group I might add who you yourself admit haven't been active in close to half a century and yet have suddenly decided to drag themselves out of hiding and start targeting the human relatives of known vampires, and based on that fact we can no longer keep any secrets from my daughter for her own protection. And yet you can't tell me any details of how you came by this sudden knowledge or indeed who gave it to you." Katherine turned to Josef then, hands on hips and chin pushed forward. "Haven't you ever heard the expression if it stinks like shit it probably is?"

Josef raised his eyes skyward for a moment and counted to ten. When he was sure he had regained control he looked at Katherine directly and once again reiterated the crux of the matter at hand.

Roisin was in danger. The whys or wherefores were not important and he was not at liberty to reveal details. Roisin needed to be told the true nature of her family, and about the existence of certain groups who worked against them, in order to be prepared for any threats that may arise.

"Forewarned is forearmed, Katherine" Josef finished pointedly, "as the saying goes."

"I just can't." Katherine's gaze locked in Josef's, expression remorseful and pleading. "What if she rejects me, what if I've made a mistake and she hates me for keeping this from her?"

Josef moved to reassure Katherine then, his attitude shifting to that of a concerned sire for his only childe.

"You're her Mother, Katherine." Josef drew his arm around Katherine's shoulders as she bit back the threat of tears. "Even if she does hate you she won't hate you for long."

"I know…I just…"

"I'll tell her." Josef preempted Katherine's formed protest.

Katherine paused for a moment, drawing in an unneeded breath and then quickly scrubbed the palms of her hands over her face and then nodded her assent.

"When?"

"Tomorrow evening, after she's spent the day home here with you."

Josef smiled and then added with a tone of affected ease. "I think we might pay a visit to a certain local art gallery, there's a painting there I believe Roisin would be very interested to know the history of."

----------------------------------------

-------------------

"Uncle Josef, are you ok?"

Roisin's hand tugged at the sleeve of Josef's suit coat as they walked alongside one another.

"Of course." Josef glanced sideways at Roisin, one eyebrow raised in a question, head cocked. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem a little distracted. Did you and Uncle Mick have a fight?"

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Josef laughed and shook his head, drawing an arm around Roisin's shoulders.

"You should buy him some flowers." Roisin offered helpfully, her own arm wrapped around her Uncle's waist.

"Maybe I'll rip up a nice rosebush for him." Josef snorted a laugh and then grinned.

"Beg pardon?"

"It doesn't matter." Josef bent to kiss the top of Roisin's hair and then inclined his head towards the street in front of them.

"Come on." He said then, arching his brow and drawing his arm tighter around Roisin's shoulder, "We've got an appointment with the fine arts."

He hadn't really had a fight with Mick, not as such. He had gone to Mick upstairs after his talk with Katherine, scrawling out a note of explanation to bring Mick up to speed with the situation.

"The Order of…" Mick stopped himself just in time when he saw Josef press a hurried finger to his lips. "You mean, as in…?"

"No, not as in...." Josef gestured to finish the sentence and then sat down on the bed next to Mick. "Now that one really is a legend."

"That's what you would have said about this group up until a few hours ago, Josef."

For a moment Josef was almost certain Mick was about to suggest they pack up right then and there and travel to Transylvania in search of the mythical Vampire.

"That's beside the point." Josef waved a dismissive hand in the air, hoping to distract Mick away from notions of some fictional Vampire Count living in the Carpathian Mountains. "This group," Josef gestured towards the paper in Mick's hand, "does exist, and now it seems they've decided to share information with me."

"Right." Mick stood up then, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair at the end of the bed. "Get your coat on, we're going out. We can find somewhere to talk, without having to pass notes to one another."

"I wondered what this Pierre Lamont character wanted with you when he phoned the other day." Mick stretched his legs out along the secluded park bench, and leant against Josef's shoulder. "So how come I'm allowed to be let in on this information and Katherine isn't?"

"They're secretive." Josef surveyed the expanse of grass in front of him. "They only reveal their existence to potential novitiates or elder Vampires."

"Oh ok." Mick looked bemused. "So I'm an elder now am I?"

"Not until you turn four hundred, Mick." Josef traced a distracted hand along the back of Mick's neck. "I had to get permission to tell you any of this."

"And how did you manage that?"

"I insisted."

"I bet you did." Mick laughed and shook his head once again. "So how do The Cleaners fit in with all of this?"

Mick furrowed his brow for a moment, trying to piece together the hierarchy of the Vampire nation in light of the facts he had just learned.

"Public and known face of the order, apparently." Josef shrugged and offered no further explanation.

Mick turned to face Josef then, expression hesitant.

"Listen, there's something I've been curious about." Mick's speech was halting. "That night, with the Cleaners, back where we used to live…"

Josef averted his eyes for a moment and nodded his understanding.

"…the language you were speaking, what was it?"

"Romany." Josef stated matter of fact.

Mick considered Josef's reply for a moment and then drew an arm around his shoulders.

"You're a fascinating creature sometimes, Josef Kostan." He told Josef then, snorting a brief laugh and shaking his head.

"Pretty fly for a dead guy, hey Mick?" Josef cocked an eyebrow and offered Mick an off-centred smile, before leaning over and placing an affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face.

They had returned home after that. Josef had lain on their bed, one armed tucked under his head, staring up at the ceiling in silent contemplation. The reality of telling Roisin that her entire, known, family were all undead was beginning to weigh in on him.

Mick stretched out alongside him, seeking to distract Josef from his thoughts. He didn't exactly receive the reception he was hoping for.

"For God sake, Mick." Josef snapped in sudden annoyance as he brushed Mick's hand away. "We practically swing from the rafters every night. Do you think I could possible have at least one evening off?"

Mick recoiled for a moment, hurt by Josef's rejection of his advances, and then decided to try and make light of the situation.

"So am I being told to go fuck myself then?" Mick raised himself up onto one shoulder and grinned at Josef.

"Yes. There's a sex shop up the road, take fifty dollars out of my wallet, I'm sure you'll find something suitable to use there."

Josef hadn't really meant to speak so harshly. His quipped reply was supposed to have been a counter joke to Mick's teasing, but the words came out with more of a bitter edge than he intended.

"Crap." Josef thought and rolled his eyes as he watched Mick storm out of the room in a huff. "This is all I need, Mick in one of his moods again."

Josef resolved to try and make it up to Mick another time and then headed off to the freezer to fall into a restless sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know, I remember when that picture was painted."

Josef studied the portrait in front of him, shifting his eyes over the tiny cracks in paint. Oil never was a good medium for longevity; still he expected most people never thought of being able to look at their own portrait, some four hundred or so years after it was painted.

"Don't be silly, Uncle Josef." Roisin rolled his eyes and screwed up her nose. "It can't be you; the man in that picture would be dead by now."

Roisin wasn't at all surprised to find herself standing in the Louvre, next to her Uncle, well after closing time. She knew Josef wielded some considerable wealth and power; it was evident in the way she had seen him wave money under people's noses and make things happen.

"I am dead." Josef shrugged and tried to keep the tone of his voice even. "In a manner of speaking."

Before Roisin had a chance to absorb the full meaning of his words, Josef turned to her, his finger pressing against her lips, and said. "Watch."

He traveled a short distance away from Roisin then, moving with the inhuman speed of the Vampire, and then returned to her side. Regarding the expression on her face carefully, he waited for her to speak.

"How did you do that?" The wonder in Roisin's voice, tinged with a mix of curiosity and instinctive fear, was evident.

Josef averted his eyes for a moment and drew breath to speak. Then, looking directly at Roisin, he smiled and stated matter of fact. "Well, you know Vampire's can do that sort of thing."

"You're a…"

Josef didn't give Roisin a chance to finish. Grinning at the wide eyed look of amazement that had passed over her face, he arched his brow and gestured his head towards a window ledge, some twenty feet in the air.

Roisin watched as her Uncle leapt into the air and landed cat-like above her, balancing gracefully on the narrow landing.

"Ok, Uncle Josef?" Roisin stood hands on hips and head cocked. "Now you're just showing off."

"I am, aren't I?" Josef laughed and then leapt back down to land beside her.

Josef looked on then as Roisin circled around him, pausing every now and then to press her fingers against his torso.

"It's not a trick, Roisin." Josef reached for Roisin's hand, gently moving it away from him. "You won't find any wires or contraptions on me."

Roisin swallowed and then nodded, tentatively reaching her hand up to her Uncle's face.

"Do you have fangs?" She probed the corners of Josef's mouth. "I've never seen them?"

"They only show if I want them to." Josef drew back his lips and slowly allowed his canines to extend.

"Ouch." Roisin ran the tip of an experimental finger over the points of her Uncle's teeth and then quickly withdrew her hand, sucking at the tiny drop of blood that had been drawn. "They're sharp."

"Well of course they're sharp." Josef flicked his head and rolled his eyes. "You ever heard of a Vampire with blunt teeth?"

"No." Roisin covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. "Uncle Josef?" Roisin's voice fell serious then. "You're not lying to me are you?"

Roisin's words were more a statement of fact than a question and Josef placed a hand on her shoulder and replied simply, "No."

Roisin paused for a moment, allowing the reality of what she had just been told to sink in.

"If that is a picture of you on the wall," she asked then, "how old are you, really?"

Roisin's voice cracked, as if she didn't really want to hear the answer to that question.

"Including my mortal years," Josef kept his eyes locked on the portrait in front of him, "I will be four hundred and seventy one years old, this year."

'Uncle Josef?" The colour seemed to suddenly drain from Roisin's face. "I think I need to sit down."

"Sure." Josef moved to assist his niece over to a nearby bench against the wall then and found his offer rebuked as Roisin recoiled instinctively away from him.

"You're not going to bite me, are you?"

Roisin's voice trembled with a distinct note of fear.

"Roisin." The harshness of his tone belied the hurt he felt at his niece's rejection. "I've known you since you were a baby, when have I ever even attempted to bite you?"

"Never?" Roisin's reply was uncertain, expression wary.

"Well then what makes you think I'm suddenly going to start now?" Josef rolled his eyes and then grinned at her.

It was the cheeky, slightly off-centred grin, that Roisin had seen Josef give a thousand times. Underneath the centuries of age and the fangs and seeming ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, the man standing in front of her was still her Uncle.

"Yeah ok, that was a bit dumb." Roisin laughed sheepishly, her gaze fixed on her shoe as she drew circles on the ground with her foot.

"Yes, it was." Josef laughed and shook his head, then placed a hand in the small of Roisin's back and gently guided her towards the bench. Taking a seat next to her, he waited for the inevitable questions to begin.

"Is Uncle Mick a Vampire too?"

"Yes." Josef resolved to keep his replies simple, not wanting to overwhelm his young niece anymore than she had been.

"How old is Uncle Mick?"

"A hundred and fifty."

Roisin looked skyward for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she mentally calculated the difference in age between her two Uncles.

"Did you turn Uncle Mick into a Vampire?" Roisin glanced sideways at her Uncle.

"No...Yes…sort of…it's complicated." Josef waved a dismissive hand in the air, pleased when Roisin didn't seem to want to press the matter any further.

"Have you and Uncle Mick been together for very long? I mean I know you've been together for more than 10 years, because I'm twelve and that's like a really long time for me." Roisin was suddenly babbling, her words gushing forth.

"You know breathing isn't optional for humans." Josef arched an eyebrow at his niece and then placed a reassuring hand on her arm, waiting for her to repeat her question.

"This coming November, your Uncle and Mick and I will have been together for sixty three years."

"Wow." Roisin let out a whistle and shook her head in disbelief.

"Funny, I say that exact same thing to myself every day." Josef tilted his head and grinned at her.

"You do not."

Josef laughed at his niece's indignant reply and then gave her an indulgent smile. She was a precocious child, wise and observant beyond her years. She was shaping up to grow into a fine young lady, with a strong mind of her.

The questions flowed from Roisin then. "Can you turn into a bat? Do you sleep in a coffin? Does Uncle Mick sleep in a coffin with you? Do you drink blood? Have you ever killed anyone? How many?"

Josef again kept his replies short and to the point. "No. No I sleep in a freezer (Roisin had shot her Uncle a strange look at that answer). Yes Uncle Mick sleeps with me in the freezer, freezer not coffin. Yes I do. I'm a Vampire of course I have. No I don't care to tell my twelve year old niece 'how many'."

Then the question Josef realised he had been dreading, finally came.

"Is my mother a Vampire too?"

Josef hesitated for a moment and then swallowed away the nervous lump that had risen in his throat and nodded.

"Yes."

Roisin seemed to consider this for a moment and then asked, "Did you turn her into a Vampire, Uncle Josef?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Josef averted his eyes from Roisin's gaze for a moment and then turned to look at her once more, the unease on his face apparent.

"Because she would have died if I hadn't."

Josef didn't anticipate the next question and the lack of hesitation in his answer surprised him. It wasn't an idea he had ever really given much thought to.

"If my Mum had died, would you and Uncle Mick have taken care of me?"

"Of course."

Josef drew an unneeded breath then and stood up. "Come on." He reached for Roisin's hand and pulled her to her feet. "I think that's enough for one night, we should be getting home. It's way past your bedtime."

Josef offered Roisin another off-centred smile then and added, "You can interrogate me some more tomorrow," as he placed an arm around Roisin's shoulder and began to lead her towards the Gallery's exit.

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Roisin."

Katherine moved to rush toward her daughter, wanting to offer reassurance and seeking her own. Josef held up a hand to stop her, the expression on his face evident.

_"Give her space Katherine, don't overwhelm her…let her come to you."_

"So, our secret's out then?" Mick bent down to his niece's level, as Roisin walked over to him and stuck a finger in his mouth, brow furrowed, probing at his teeth and gum line.

"She wants to see your fangs." Josef quickly explained when he saw Mick's bemused look.

"Uncle Josef's are bigger." Roisin declared as she studied Mick's now extended fangs and pressed the tip of a curious finger against them.

"Gee thanks." Mick pretended to look crestfallen and then scoffed and rolled his eyes. "They're exactly the same size."

"You've measured them have you?" Josef cocked his head and grinned.

"Yes, well, alright." Katherine moved tentatively towards her daughter. "You two can get out your fangs and compare sizes another time; I think Roisin's had enough excitement for one day." Katherine placed a maternal hand on Roisin's shoulder. "Come on sweetheart." She announced gently. "It's time for you to go bed."

"Mum." Roisin turned to her mother, her voice holding no recrimination, just a simple statement of fact. "You should've told me."

"I know." Katherine directed her reply, not to her daughter but to Josef, and Mick standing beside him.

"Mum, can Uncle Josef come up and say goodnight to me, before he goes off to his refrigerator with Uncle Mick."

"Freezer, darling." Katherine gently corrected her. "We sleep in Freezers."

Roisin shrugged as if to say, 'same difference'.

"I'll be up in a moment," Josef spoke then. "You don't want Uncle Mick to come and say goodnight to you too?"

"He said goodnight to me last night." Roisin shrugged and pointed at her Uncle. "It's your turn."

"Uncle Josef?"

Josef sat on the edge of Roisin's bed and looked at his niece, waiting for her to ask the question he had been anticipating. "How did you become a Vampire?"

"How come you wanted to rip up a rosebush for Uncle Mick?"

It wasn't at all what Josef had expected. He took a moment to compose his thoughts and then smiled at Roisin.

"You want to hear a story?"

"Yeah." Roisin sat forward and drew her knees up under the covers, her attention focused as her Uncle began to speak.  
_  
__The Chemical Freshie Bender of 2018_

"Get rid of it, I hate it."

Josef took a large draw of Scotch from the glass in his hand and glared at the painting now hanging on the lounge room wall.

"Josef." The exasperation in Mick's voice was apparent. "We've only just bought the damn thing, it cost you a small fortune. You loved it when you first saw it."

They had been together for ten years by then and Mick still struggled to understand Josef's seeming casual ability to throw money away without a second thought. Of course he had known Josef before that, but knowing someone and living with them were often two completely different streams of experience.

"So." Josef turned to Mick, head cocked, a note of haughty determination playing over his features. "I'll go and buy one I like."

"But you loved that one." Mick shook his head in frustrated disbelief.

Josef clenched his teeth and hissed a reply. "Well I_ don't_ love it now."

"Christ, Josef!"

In-between his time with Coraline and his time now, with Josef, Mick had gotten used to living a more austere lifestyle. Josef spent money hand over fist, often with the flippant excuse of, "I'm wealthy," as he loaded their house with objects of art and other relics, half of which he decided he hated almost the instant the payment for them had exchanged hands.

Their conversation descended into a round of sharp voices and snapped replies then, quickly escalating into a full chorus of furious snarls and growls. It ended only when Josef turned heel and stormed out of the house, tossing an angry declaration of, "I'm going out," over his shoulder.

Josef returned some nine hours later, at four in the morning, eyes glazed and unsteady, clothes in disarray and hair sticking up in obscene loops and whorls.

"A rosebush?" Mick stared at the collection of thorned stems and petals, clutched in Josef's outstretched hand.

"Well aren't you supposed to bring the person you love flowers when you've had a fight?" Josef's voice was slurred and distant.

"Flowers? Sure…." Mick shrugged and looked bemused, eyes still fixed on the object in Josef's hand.

"Look." Josef's expression was suddenly very pleased as he thrust the rosebush towards Mick's face and gave it a shake, a shower of dirt and petals falling to the floor beneath him. "It's an entire rosebush."

As if Mick needed that fact clarified.

"I can see that, Josef." Mick smiled briefly and gave a quick nod. "So who did you go out and fuck this time?"

"Uncle Josef!" Roisin's expression fell shocked.

"What?" Josef arched a pointed eyebrow. "If you're old enough to start doing impersonations of your Uncle's private time together, then you're obviously old enough for me to speak frankly to you."

Roisin seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded a hesitant agreement.

"So you and Uncle Mick have other friends too?"

"No not anymore, we used to, a long time ago." Josef hurriedly explained. "Although we did have certain rules." He added, leaving off the exact details of his previous arrangement with Mick.

"You and Uncle Mick didn't really love each other back then?" Roisin's voice saddened.

"Of course we did." Josef shot his niece a bemused look. "It's different for Vampires." He explained then, remembering he was addressing a human child who wasn't aware of the complexities of life as an Immortal. "When you live forever you don't always apply the rules of human relationships to your own."

Roisin furrowed her brow and looked as if she were struggling to absorb this new information.

"So why do you apply them now?"

"Well, we just…" Josef's voice trailed off. He realised he had no way of explaining his now monogamous relationship with Mick; it wasn't exactly something they had sat down together and decided, it had just happened that way. "It's just how it is now, for us."

It was the best explanation he could think of.

Josef decided to end the conversation there. "Hey." He nudged a hand against Roisin's leg and looked at her pointedly. "Do you want me to finish telling you the story or not?"

_The Chemical Freshie Bender of 2018 (Continued)_

"What? Nobody." Josef stared at Mick through a haze of confusion. "I only fuck you, Mick. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." Mick's expression fell contrite. He had been trying to goad Josef, the memories of his previous annoyance with him still lingering on his mind.

Josef dropped the rosebush in his hand then, another cloud of dirt and petals fanning the floor below, and went to move towards Mick. Swaying from the effects of the chemical laced blood flowing through his system, he hadn't managed more than two steps before he lost his balance completely and hit the floor with a resounding thud.

"Oh, Jesus…" Mick raised his eyes skyward and shook his head, before bending down to pick Josef up, slinging him over his shoulder. "Come here."

"Mick." Josef's hand hammered determinedly against the small of Mick's back, as Mick started carrying him towards the freezer room for some, hopefully quick, sobering rest. "Mick!"

"What?"

"You forgot your rosebush."

"I'll pick it up later, Josef."

"But Mick," Josef's voice sounded sad and wan. "You have to put it in water, it'll die otherwise."

Josef drew a determined breath then and declared with absolute certainty of knowledge. "Roses are not immortal."

At that Josef found himself lying on the floor once again, as Mick dropped him and then collapsed into gales of laughter.

"What's so funny?"

Josef's bewildered expression prompted more howls of laughter from Mick.

"You are." Mick shook his head and moved over to where Josef lay, stretching out alongside him.

"I bought you a rosebush, Mick." Josef's voice trailed off into the distance as he reached out an uncoordinated hand and patted Mick lying next to him.

"I know you did, Josef…"

Josef suddenly turned and buried his head in Mick's shoulder, purring. "And you love me for it, don't you?"

"It would have to be the single…" Mick searched for the right word. "…strangest thing anyone has ever done for me."

Mick drew his arms around Josef's neck then and pulled him into an embrace, fingers brushing through crazed hair as he placed an affectionate kiss on Josef's forehead and said, "Thank you."

"Uncle Josef, when's Uncle Mick's birthday?" Roisin tilted her head and regarded her Uncle with a questioning look, when Josef had finished telling her about his escapades with a rosebush.

"November the 2nd, why?"

"I want to get him a present." Roisin shrugged and then covered her mouth and broke into fits of giggles. "A rose bush, I'll plant it and then you can rip it up and give it to him."

"Roisin?" Josef shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"What, Uncle Josef?

"Go to sleep."

Josef laughed and kissed his niece goodnight.

"I know one story you've never told me." Mick arched an eyebrow and stroked a finger along the side of Josef's naked torso, as they lay alongside one another in bed after Josef had returned from his nighttime duties with Roisin. "Miss Bitch Queen of New Orleans."

"Don't push your luck, Mick." Josef shifted towards him, hands covering the muscular expanse of Mick's back.

"Or what?" Mick's heart rate quickened, his body pressed against Josef's, the sensation of Josef's lips and tongue running across his neck and throat.

"Or I won't put you onto your back and then hook your legs over my shoulders and fuck you till you scream." Josef grinned and arched an eyebrow cheekily, his hand moving down to encircle Mick's erection.

"Oh, ok then." Mick snorted a laugh. "You were planning to, were you?"

Mick arched into Josef's touch then, seeking closer contact, lips pressed together hungrily.

Down the hallway, in her room, Roisin pressed the sides of her pillow against her ears and unsuccessfully tried to drown out the increasingly loud snarls and cries of pleasure coming from her Uncle's room.

Finally, she'd had enough.

"Do you mind? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Mick quickly scrambled for the covers, throwing them haphazardly over them as Josef stared at the image of his niece standing in the now flung open doorway of their bedroom; face bunched red and hair flying. He pressed his fist against his mouth and desperately tried not to laugh.

"Oh god!"

Josef watched then as Roisin's expression shifted from fierce and determined to wide eyed and shocked as the full realisation of exactly what she had just walked in on started to dawn on her.

'Well," Roisin let out a huff of breath and folded her arms across her chest. "I hope you're both happy, you know I'll probably require years of therapy now."

With that she turned heel and strode off, little legs marching determinedly back to her own room.

"Looks like we've both just been told then, Mick." Josef cocked his head and then buried his face against Mick's shoulder and burst out laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So, come on." Mick pulled on his shirt and worked his fingers along the buttons. "How'd it really go with Roisin last night?"

"Better than expected." Josef ran a hand along Mick's lapels, and smiled. "She's a smart kid."

"She takes after you, you know." Mick grinned and then leant in to place an affectionate kiss.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult." Josef tossed back and then moved to return the kiss, drawing it out, hands gripping the sides of Mick's skull, and then moving down to trace angles of musculature across Mick's back.

"Josef." Mick gently disengaged himself from Josef's embrace. "We've only just gotten dressed."

"So." Josef's hooked his fingers into the waist band of Mick's jeans and pulled him back into his space. "We'll get dressed again."

"I've only just had a shower."

Mick's half hearted protests went unheeded as Josef's hand began to fumble urgently with the fastenings on his jeans.

"So, have another one."

"You've got an answer for everything, don't you?"

Mick admitted defeat and quickly pushed Josef's hand out the way, hurriedly working on undoing his pants himself. He watched as Josef responded in kind, and then asked. "So you think Roisin's going to be ok with all this then?"

"Yeah, I think so, she seems to be." Josef's voice was distracted, breath hitched, hands reaching inside Mick's jeans, working on freeing him from his constraints.

He spoke to soon. Just as he'd managed to wrap a firm hand around Mick's shaft, feeling him harden at his touch, an argument started downstairs.

"I need a new wardrobe." Roisin's voice was gritted, angry. "How do you expect me to fit in at my new school if I don't look like one of the cool kids?"

"You don't need a new wardrobe, Roisin." Katherine's own voice grew impatient. "There is nothing wrong with the clothes you already have."

And then Roisin opened her mouth and hollered her mistake.

"If you don't get it for me, I'll tell everyone that you're all Vampires, and they'll believe me."

Before Mick could stop him, Josef had zipped himself up and flown downstairs.

Mick caught up just in time to see Josef lift Roisin off the ground by the front of her shirt and shake her, just once, hard enough to show he meant business.

"Do not ever; let me hear you, say that, again!"

Josef's face was a terrifying visage pressed angrily against Roisin's. She took one look at his pale features, eyes cold blue and red rimmed, and dissolved into hysterical sobs.

"Jesus Christ, Josef." Mick shook his head in disbelief; arms folded across his chest, as Josef lowered Roisin to the ground and then watched her run into her mother's arms. "She hasn't seen any of us completely vamped out before, you scared her half to death."

"Good." Josef's tone was pointed, his stance defiant. "Then she won't make the same mistake again in a hurry, now will she."

"She's also not likely to sleep with the light off for the next week either." Mick shot back.

"Need I remind you, Mick, what happens to those who threaten the secrecy of the Vampire nation?"

Josef's harshness belied his distant look. Mick turned away, briefly, not wanting to see the memory revealed in those eyes.

"Uncle Mick?" Roisin wiped the back of a hand against her eyes, her sobs slowly subsiding. "What happens to people who tell secrets about you?"

Josef and Mick exchanged quick glances, Josef shaking his head. "No."

"Nothing sweetheart." Mick's gaze fixed on Josef's. "It's just important for you to remember, that's all."

Josef swallowed and nodded his approval. Turning then towards Roisin, his face transformed back to its human state, he muttered a hurried apology and then announced, "I need to go do some work," to no one in particular.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You ok?"

Mick leant against the frame of the door to Josef's office, his disquiet apparent.

"Yeah, you?"

Josef's tone echoed Mick's own concern. The events of past history weren't a subject they were wont to discuss on a regular basis, choosing instead to leave them where they belonged, in the past. Every so often though, something would occur that reignited old memories. Neither one of them relished talking about it when it happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mick tried to nod his reassurance and then quickly changed the subject. "So I take it you did tell Roisin about our need for secrecy?" He asked, taking a step towards Josef's desk, brow scrunched and head cocked in a question.

"Of course I did." Josef shot Mick a sideways look and pursed his lips in momentary annoyance. Standing up from his seat, he walked around to the front of the desk and leant against it, arms folded loosely across his chest. "I didn't go into too much detail, but yes, I did make her aware of certain current dangers and the importance of secrecy to our community."

Mick seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded his understanding. His face brightening, he moved towards Josef and drew him into his space.

"Hey." Mick rested his knees against Josef's and leant back. "You wanna go out and do something, take Roisin to the pictures? There's a Vampire feature marathon on at the local cinema, might be good for a laugh?"

"Not a Jean Rollins retrospective I hope, Mick?" Josef cocked an eyebrow and then snorted a laugh, when he saw the eye rolling look that passed over Mick's face. "Sure, why not." Josef said then, offering Mick a casual smile, before closing the gap between them and placing a brief, affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~````````

"So, did you enjoy the movie?" Josef wrapped an arm around Roisin's shoulder as they walked down the street, pleased to note that she didn't flinch or pull away from him this time, as she had done earlier.

"Some of it was a bit scary, not as scary as you though, Uncle Josef." Roisin screwed up her nose in distaste. "You look like a corpse."

"A very handsome corpse though, don't you think?" Josef arched an eyebrow and smiled at his niece.

"No, just a corpse."

Josef started to laugh at his niece's matter of fact reply and then stopped dead still, ears pricked.

"What is it?" Mick's own ears pricked up, alert to the sounds around them.

"I thought I heard something?"

"Roisin?" Mick bent down to his niece's level and gently gripped the top of her shoulders with his hands. "Don't be afraid of us, ok?"

Roisin looked on then as her Uncle's, and Mother's faces morphed into their true Vampire form. The air around her seemed to change, becoming charged, as she watched the three of them scenting the air together, nostrils flaring, like predators on the hunt.

The sound hadn't come from a Vampire, that much was evident. Neither though could any of them tell if the sound had been made by human movement. The footsteps moving towards them lacked the usual smell of the Vampire, but they also lacked the typical signs of mortal approach, the heartbeat and aroma of humanity.

A human who was capable of covering their heartbeat and scent?

Josef and Mick exchanged quick glances, the answer etched in their expressions.

_"Legion assassin, run!"_

The deadliest members of the entire Legion, Legion assassins were highly trained and worked as individuals. They spent years perfecting certain high yogic arts that gave them the ability to hide some of the usual human attributes that would otherwise alert a Vampire to their presence. Until it was too late, that is.

"Uncle Mick!" Roisin's scream echoed through the night air as Katherine swept her into her arms and turned to run.

Josef spun around at the sound of his niece's voice, just in time to see their attacker step out of the shadows and pump six rounds of silver into Mick's chest.

Katherine froze, holding onto Roisin for dear life, as if she were awaiting instruction on what to do next.

"Roisin?" Josef's voice was firm, designed to counterpoint the terrified child's hysterical cries. "Look at me. Uncle Mick can't die, ok?"

Josef gestured to the rooftop of the Car Park above them then and hurriedly instructing Katherine to, "Hold onto her, tight, and jump up there, now!"

And then there was no more time for instructions or reassurances. Sharp metal was being drawn, arcing towards Mick's neck in a swift downward curve.

"Mum, I want to see." Roisin struggled against her Mother's arms, trying to turn around, as her Mother perched on the edge of the Car Park roof and held onto her tightly, shielding her from what was happening below.

It took Josef all of fifteen seconds to dispatch the 'would be' assassin. Never underestimate a Vampire protecting his loved ones, especially when that Vampire's name happens to be Josef Kostan. Josef descended on the mortal in front of him like a bat out of hell, knocking the sword from their hand, and tearing their throat out with his teeth in the same rapid shift of movement.

Josef stood over the prone form when it was done, grinning triumphantly as he watched the last drops of precious lifeblood drain away.

"Ok, you can come down." He called out to Katherine then, moving to draw an arm around Mick's shoulders and help him to his feet at the same time.

"I thought you were supposed to have a security detail tracking us?" Mick stammered through the pain and sickness coursing through his body, shaking as he struggled to stand upright.

"I gave them the night off." Josef's reply was hurried, distracted. "I'm capable of looking after my own family you know." He added defensively.

"I never said you weren't." Mick hung onto Josef, using him as a support.

"Keep her face covered." Josef gestured towards the child in Katherine's arms as they began to move away. "She doesn't need to see what's back there."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~````````````

"Christ." Mick gritted his teeth through the sharp stab of pain, as Josef dug the metal forceps into his exposed flesh and extracted another bullet. "You wanna try being a bit gentler next time."

"Funny." Josef bent his face to Mick's and grinned, one eyebrow arched suggestively. "That's not what you usually tell me."

"Oh ha ha, Josef." Mick drew his lips into a sarcastic smile and then gulped a few more mouthfuls from the bottle of blood in his hands, trying to offset the tremors and waves of nausea that washed over him from the silver still inside his body.

"Is Uncle Mick ok?" Roisin's voice drifted childlike towards them.

"I thought I told you to take her upstairs and keep her up there." Josef frowned his disapproval at Katherine, as Roisin took another tentative step towards them.

"She wanted to come down here and see her Uncle Mick, she's worried about him." Katherine's explanation was pointed, challenging Josef's censure.

"I'm fine, sweetheart."

Mick didn't look 'fine' to Roisin's eyes. "Are you sure?" She asked. The uncertainty in her voice was evident.

"Katherine." Josef cut in. "Take her back upstairs, she doesn't need to watch me performing surgery."

"But I want to stay down here with Uncle Mick." Roisin's protest was small and plaintive.

"Katherine." Josef's tone was firm, his gaze fixed on hers.

"But I want to help." Roisin voiced another protest, more insistent than the last.

Josef studied his niece's expression for a moment, noting both her apparent concern and the determined look behind her eyes.

'Alright." Josef relented. "Come here and hold this for me." He waited for her to move to his side and then handed her the bowl from the table next to him.

Josef sliced into the skin of Mick's back with the scalpel held in his hand and dug the forceps into him once again, eliciting another wince of pain as he twisted the metal through Mick's flesh and extracted the sixth and final bullet. Being careful not to let it touch his own skin, he dropped it into the bowl held in Roisin's outstretched hands.

Roisin watched, eyes drawn in fascination, as the skin on her Uncle's back seemed to heal magically before her very eyes.

Josef wiped a damp towel over Mick's back, cleaning away the last traces of blood and then quickly fetched another bottle of A positive.

"Here, get this into you." Josef ran a quick, tender hand along the back of Mick's neck as he handed the blood to him, and then turned to Roisin.

Holding out the scalpel for her to take, and exposing the skin on his arm, he instructed her simply. "Cut me."

Roisin hesitated, expression wary, and then drew the blade across her Uncle's flesh, watching as the layers of flesh and muscle separated and then rejoined almost instantly.

"See." Josef took the scalpel from Roisin's hand and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I heal, just like you saw happen with the skin on Uncle Mick's back. If we're ever in another situation like tonight, you look after yourself." He squeezed Roisin's shoulder gently to ensure his point. "You don't worry about any of us, ok?"

"Ok." Roisin nodded her understanding.

"How are you feeling?" Josef turned back to Mick then, brushing a few stray strand of hair from his forehead.

"Getting there." Mick threw back another mouthful of blood from the bottle in his hand.

"Good." Josef's relief was palpable. "Finish that up and then hurry it along." He instructed then. "We're leaving."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, aren't the four of you a sorry looking sight?" Lestat leant in the open doorway, one hand raised, wrist bent, as if he were about to offer them a serving platter. "Come here, sugar." He took a step toward Josef, drawing an arm around his neck and kissing him warmly on both sides of his face. "You know you're always welcome at my place."

"Uncle Mick?" Roisin nudged her Uncle, the words mumbled out the corner of her mouth as she watched the strangely flamboyant Vampire turn heel and sashay off in front of them. "Is he a friend of Uncle Josef's?"

"Of course?" Mick scrunched his brow for a moment and regarded his niece with a bemused look, until realisation dawned on him. "Not that sort of friend, sweetheart." He snorted a laugh and ruffled an affectionate hand through her tangle of blonde hair.

Less than an hour had passed since Josef first made the announcement that they were to all go upstairs, pack whatever belongings they could carry, and be prepared to leave, immediately. In consideration of the events of earlier that evening, their house could not be considered safe for them to stay in, not for any length of time.

Lestat's house at least afforded them some protection, with its myriad of secret rooms and passages, planned into the structure of the house when it was first built some five hundred years ago. Of course Lestat had only purchased the property less than a hundred years ago himself.

"Your Uncle Mick and I were married in that garden back there." Josef placed a tender hand on Roisin's shoulder and guided her down the hallway, to the large Mezzanine Ballroom at the back of Lestat's house.

"You and Uncle Mick really love one another, don't you?" Roisin's expression was seeking, little face turned upwards towards her Uncle's.

"Of course."

"And you love me and Mum as well?" Again the same seeking expression, as if she needed to find reassurance in the answers that would be given to her.

"Of course." Josef spoke in earnest then. "You and Katherine are my only living blood relatives, I am honour bound to look after you both."

Roisin seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded a simple approval.

"So, does this mean I get to tease you about white horses and Knights in shining armour now, Sir Galahad.?" Mick wrapped an arm around Josef's waist and drew him close, placing an affectionate kiss on Josef's temple.

"Don't push your luck with me, St John." There was no recrimination in Josef's voice, just tenderness given in kind, as he leant in and returned Mick's kiss.

"Right." The sound of Lestat's voice broke the moment. "We have hor douvres for the little lady." He made an extravagant display of presenting Roisin with a tray of cucumber sandwiches, the crusts neatly sliced off, forming perfect squares. "And for the rest of us, some O positive." He looked at Josef apologetically then. "I'm sorry it's the only kind I have in stock at the moment."

"Well, it'll have to do then won't it." Josef arched an eyebrow and grinned, then gratefully accepted the bottle being offered to him.

"What about you, honey?" Lestat turned to Mick then, placing a concerned hand on Mick's arm. "You still look a bit piqued after your ordeal, would you prefer a little something more direct from the source?"

"Not in front of Roisin." Mick waited until he was certain that his wishes had been understood and then nodded his gratitude.

"I have a room you can use." Lestat moved towards the rope of a summoning bell, hanging from the ceiling above the room's entrance door. "Josef knows where it is."

Roisin looked on, head titled, expression questioning, as the sound of the bell rang through the house and her Uncles departed from the room.

"Mum?"

"Your Uncle Mick still isn't quite well, darling. He needs to feed…properly." Katherine offered her daughter the simplest explanation she could think of.

"Him and Uncle Josef are going to hurt someone?" Roisin's voice made it clear she meant more than just hurt. She bunched her nose and looked perturbed at the thought.

"No darling." Katherine stroked a gentle finger down the side of her daughter's face and then brushed her hair back over her shoulders. "People sometimes donate blood to us, like they do at the blood bank, only…different."

"And it'll make Uncle Mick better?"

"Yes."

The answer seemed to satisfy Roisin.

"Alright." Lestat's enthusiasm was evident as he clapped his hands together and then put on an extravagant show of bowing to Roisin. "I believe some music and dancing is in order." He offered Roisin his hand and began to lead her to the centre of the room, pausing to press the play button on a particularly ancient looking piece of stereo equipment. "A proper young lady should always know how to dance the Minuet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's not how you dance the Minuet, Leonard." Josef sauntered back into the room, his arm draped loosely around Mick's waist, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Well it's how I dance the Minuet, Miss Bitch Queen of New Orleans." Lestat shot back in rapid fire French.

Their conversation continued in the same vein, a series of quick exchanges parried back and forth.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin cut in, gesturing an arm in her Uncle's direction. "You know you really shouldn't stand with your hand on your hip and wave your arm around like that; it looks kind of gay."

"I'll take that into consideration, Roisin." Josef's tone was politely mocking as he cleared his throat and inclined his head and then shifted his stance back to a more neutral position.

"Come on." Mick interrupted proceedings and placed an arm around Josef's waist, drawing him into a dance hold. "Let's show them how it's really done."

"The music's changed now though, Mick. You can't dance a Minuet to this." Josef leant back in Mick's arms, head tilted and forehead creased.

"Then we'll dance something else." Mick smiled simply and began to lead Josef into the start of a tango.

Roisin watched as her two Uncles glided across the floor, bodies pressed together and eyes locked.

"Mum?" Roisin turned to her Mother "Uncle Josef and Uncle Mick aren't about to have sex, are they?" Her face crumpled with concern, as if she truly believed she was about to pay witness to her Uncles coupling, right there on the floor for all to see.

"Well, sweetheart," Katherine stifled a laugh and tried to look serious, "I know sometimes it might seem as if your Uncles have trouble controlling themselves around one another, but I'm sure they'll wait until they're in the privacy of their own room for that."

Katherine smiled at her daughter, taking a moment to marvel at her precociousness as she ran a hand over the top of Roisin's head.

"Come on." Katherine said then, getting to her feet and reaching out a hand for her daughter to follow suit. "I think that's more than enough excitement for you for one night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uncle Josef?"

Roisin's voice, small and plaintive, drifted towards him as he stood in the doorway and repeated his goodnight's to her. Mick had been in earlier, her Mother and then Lestat before that. Josef had wondered if it wouldn't have been wise to invest in tickets, Roisin's going to bed had seemed quite the event.

He suppressed a grin and waited for Roisin to continue.

"You know how you said that you made Mum into a Vampire because she would have died otherwise." Roisin didn't wait to hear her Uncle's response. "I don't want you to do that for me. I don't ever want to be a corpse. Promise me you won't."

Josef had been about to explain the difference between being dead and undead, the line of his brow creased with bemusement, and then he understood. To him the pale skin and cold blue eyes of another Vampire could be beautiful, to a human child, even one as fiercely intelligent as his young niece; it was both ugly and terrifying.

He hesitated for a moment and then nodded his assent.

"I promise."

-----------------11

"Where's Katherine?" Josef arched cat-like and then sank into the seat of the couch next to Mick.

"Gone to bed." Mick rested his head on Josef's shoulder, legs stretched out.

"We should probably do the same ourselves soon." Josef stroked an absentminded hand over Mick's leg.

"Yeah, in a moment." Mick glanced over at Lestat and then arched an eyebrow in Josef's direction. "I want to hear a story first."

"Oh Christ." Josef rolled his eyes and twisted his mouth for a moment, then let out a resigned breath, noting the look on Mick's face, his need for distraction still apparent. "Alright, I'll let Lestat tell you the damn story then."

_New Orleans 1955_

Mardi gras in New Orleans was always a colourful event. A gaudy clash of fabrics and layers of powder and paint, all tied up with a treasure trove of beads and other trinkets.

And there, sitting amongst this festival of glitz, eyes glittering, back propped against the wall of their French Quarter hotel room, was one Josef Kostan.

"Just what in the hell are you supposed to be?" Lestat stared at his friend, and then spluttered a laugh.

The freshie lying to next to Josef was dressed in Josef's suit, and quite clearly dead. It was apparent to Lestat that for some strange, unknown reason, Josef had decided it was a perfectly good idea to swap clothes with his meal.

The black cocktail dress was at least three sizes too small, but a few strategic tears in the seam line had rectified that problem. Lestat watched as Josef reached for the girl's handbag strewn next to her and rifled through its contents. Extracting a small silver compact and a tube of red lipstick, he made an extravagant display of twisting the contents up and smearing them over his lips, leaving a slash of bright red crimson across his mouth.

They had become separated in the whirlwind hustle and bustle of carnival, earlier that evening. Now, several hours and several helpings of chemical laced blood later, Josef was looking decidedly mischievous and very, very high.

"Don't speak to me like that, Leonard." Josef snapped the compact in his hand closed and then trailed a hand through the air and grinned, then announced with great flourish "I do believe I shall crown myself 'bitch queen of New Orleans'."

Josef seemed to take great delight in that remark, dissolving into a fit of hand covering mouth sniggers, eyes still glittering, bright and unfocused. He turned to the lifeless figure of the freshie on the floor next to him then and prodded the prone form with a finger.

"I think you wore her out, sugar." Lestat shook his head. "I really don't think she's getting back up again anytime soon."

"But I want someone to play with." Josef's tone was petulant, demanding. "And why is she wearing my clothes?" The expression on Josef's face fell incredulous.

"You dressed her in them, sweetie, remember?"

The look on Josef's face told Lestat that whatever had prompted him to play dress up in the first place; he had no recollection of it now.

"Well help me get her undressed, I can't wear this damn thing I look ridiculous." Josef huffed indignantly and gestured a hand along the front of the dress he was attired in.

Lestat shook his head and smiled to himself, then moved to help Josef out of the borrowed clothes and back into his own. When the task was complete, Josef leapt to his feet and announced breezily, "Let's go out somewhere," his hands gesticulating in the air above him.

"Honey, you really can't go out with your face looking like that." Lestat grinned and arched an eyebrow in Josef's direction.

"You're right." Josef nodded a curt agreement and then bent down to rummage through the contents of the freshie's handbag once again, carefully applying a layer of paints and powders that he found inside, to his skin.

"Right." Josef tossed the bag and its contents to one side and clapped his hands together then, looking decidedly pleased with himself. "Let's go."

And with that he sauntered causally out the door and back to the spectacle of the streets below, not bothering to wait and see if Lestat was behind him.

"If you ever say a word to me about this, Mick St John, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

The look on Josef's face was unmistakable, as Mick pressed his fist against his mouth and tried not to laugh.

"Yes, alright." Josef pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, then offered Mick a mock indulgent smile. "You may be amused."

Josef stood up then, brushing a hand down the front of his suit.

"Come on." He said, as he extended his hand toward Mick. "We should try and get some sleep, there's someone I believe we need to pay a visit to later today."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"How are you feeling?"

Josef ran a hand over the planes of Mick's back, body pressed against his, feeling angles of flesh and musculature under his fingers.

"Fine, better." Mick's reply was a distracted murmur, breath hitching as his own hands traced their way over Josef's skin.

Josef's lips sought Mick's then, claiming them for his own. Shifting the positions of their bodies, Josef locked his legs around Mick's waist, as they began to move against one another, gradually building up to a fever pitch of arousal.

Josef reached up a hand to clutch the back of Mick's neck, fingers tangling through the hair at the base of Mick's skull. He scraped his fangs lightly against Mick's throat, teasing his way along the delicate skin there.

And then he was once again seeing the quick flash of sharp metal, as it arced towards Mick's neck.

"You can't die, ever." Josef suddenly gripped Mick's face in his hands and fixed his gaze on his. "You do not have my permission."

As if his mere command of the matter willed it so.

"Josef." Mick raised himself up onto outstretched arms and looked down, his brow scrunched with concern. "Relax, you said it yourself, we're safe here."

Josef hesitated for a moment, then swallowed and nodded a quick agreement. Reaching for Mick, he pulled him back down towards him and pressed his lips against Mick's ear, whispering to him in a desperate hiss.

"Fuck me."

Mick quickly moved to obey Josef's direction. Slicking his cock with a quick application of lubricant, fetched from a bag at the end of the bed, he hooked Josef's legs over his shoulders and pressed himself against his entrance, breaching the initial resistance and penetrating him, slowly.

Until Josef grabbed Mick's arse and thrust upwards, clenching his teeth in momentary pain as he forced the full length of Mick's cock inside him in one sudden thrust.

Josef clung to Mick's shoulders, digging his fingers into the muscular flesh there and spurring him on with snarls of approval and single word commands of "harder" and "faster", as Mick drove himself into Josef's body.

"Don't ever leave me."

Josef's words were a blurted rush of emotion as the muscles in his body tensed, back arched and teeth clenched.

And then he was losing himself in an abyss of pleasure. Still clinging onto Mick's shoulders, he sank his fangs into the side of Mick's neck and rode out the waves of orgasm that tore through him.

Moments later Josef felt Mick spill into him, fangs penetrating Josef's flesh, his own body trembling as he panted and snarled through the pleasure of his release.

"Where do you think you're going?" Josef felt the sudden shift in pressure on the bed, as Mick withdrew himself from his body and then rolled away from him and got up, after they were both sated.

"Kitchen." Mick shrugged and furrowed his brow. ". I need some refreshment after that. I thought I'd see what's on offer."

"I'm coming with you." Josef's expression bore a distinct note of worry.

"What, you think I'm going to be attacked in the hallway?"

Mick shook his head and looked incredulous for a moment, then saw the determined look that had passed over Josef's features.

"Ok." The warmth in Mick's tone was clear, as he gestured for Josef to join him. "Come on then, you can help me raid the fridge."


	5. Chapter 5

"Can't sleep?"

It was a rhetorical question. They had been at the Villa for a fraction over a week and Josef hadn't managed to sleep more than two hours at any one time.

"I'm worried about you." Mick walked up behind Josef and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder, his thumb stroking the side of Josef's neck.

"I'm fine." Josef's eyes never left the monitors set out in front of him. Locked and focused, he watched for any signs of danger hidden in the shadows. Shadows he had started to jump at, at every turn.

"No you're not." Mick grabbed hold of the swivel chair and spun Josef around to face him. "We have people who are hired to do that you know." He said pointedly, gesturing his head toward the screen behind Josef.

"And what if they miss something, Mick?"

Josef found part of his protest mumbled into Mick's mouth, as Mick straddled Josef's lap and pressed his lips against his.

"We've got twenty four hour monitoring and an immediate alarm call system if anything suspicious so much as breathes out there." Mick's hands gripped the back of the seat, creating leverage, as he began to move against Josef and trailed a series of hot, wet kisses along Josef's neck. "We're as safe as we can possibly be here."

Mick increased the pace and pressure of his movements, grinding himself hard against Josef's pelvis. It was a diversionary tactic, designed to get Josef's mind focused on something other than the haunted vigilance that had begun to plague him. He smiled and leant in for another series of trailing kisses, and heated clashes of lips and fangs; when he felt Josef reach down to grab his arse, offering guidance and direction.

Mick's hands went to the fastenings on Josef's pants then, undoing them, fingers fumbling hurriedly, working to release Josef from his constraints. He gripped Josef's exposed erection and began to work his hand up and down the length in time to the movements of his hips, as he pressed and rubbed himself against Josef's crotch.

Josef's breathing quickened, gradually turning into a repeated chorus of snarls and moans as Mick continued to work his hand over Josef's shaft, driving him into a frenzy.

And then Mick did the unthinkable. He pulled away.

"Christ, what are you doing?" Josef reached for Mick and quickly pulled him back down onto his lap, the frustration in his voice evident. "Don't stop."

"I thought we could take this into the bedroom."

Josef's hands began to work on the front of Mick's jeans, fingers scrabbling against zipper and buttons.

"No, here's fine."

Josef hurriedly finished undoing the last of the fastenings on Mick's pants and then instructed him to stand up, pulling them down around his knees along with his underwear.

"Turn around."

Josef waited for Mick to obey his direction and then quickly slicked his cock with a mixture of saliva and his own fluid. Using one arm around Mick's waist to hold him steady, he guided Mick over his erection. A gasp of approval elicited from Josef's lips as he felt his cock breach the initial resistance and penetrate Mick's body, and he drew his arm tighter around Mick's waist and started to thrust up into him.

Still half dressed the way they were, clothes crumpled and askew, the whole scenario felt delightfully sordid. Mick drew an arm behind Josef's head and twisted his face around to meet Josef's, pressing his mouth against his, the kiss another heated clash of lips and fangs.

Josef moaned into Mick's mouth and increased the pace of his movements. He felt Mick start to move with him, Mick's own vocalizations of pleasure becoming increasingly frantic as he rocked his hips back and forth, and Josef began to stroke the length of him in time to the rhythm of their coupling.

"Fuck, I'm close." Mick suddenly panted into the side of Josef's neck, and then it was Mick's turn to whisper his own heated instruction of, "Don't stop."

Josef's movements became increasingly erratic in response to Mick's words, his hand a blur of movement along Mick's shaft, breath quickening as he drove them both towards the inevitable conclusion.

And then they were both falling into an abyss of pleasure, sailing off the edge together, fangs penetrating flesh and fluid spilling into and over one another as they panted and growled, and rode out their respective orgasms.

"Remind me to have really hot, sordid sex like that with you more often, Mick." Josef grinned when they were both spent and then carefully disengaged Mick from his embrace.

"What did we do last night?" Mick turned to face Josef and drew his arms around Josef's neck, pulling him out of the chair and down to the floor to lie next to him.

"That was slow and tender."

"And the night before that?" Mick's hand was already trailing its way along Josef's stomach, fingers reaching for Josef's cock, working their way over his length and bringing him back to full hardness.

"Desperate and needy." Josef's breath hitched in his throat. "You want to go again?"

There was no surprise or recrimination in Josef's voice, just groans of approval as he felt his arousal start to build once more.

"Well as long as I'm doing this, you're not looking at those damn monitors, are you?" Mick shifted his position, moving on top of Josef then. "And besides that," he said, raising himself up onto outstretched arms and grinning down at Josef lying beneath him. "It's my turn."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"You've already met Mick." Josef ushered Pierre Lamont into the dining room of the Villa and then moved over to Katherine, placing a hand on the small of her back and making a gesture of presentation. "And this is my childe, Katherine O' Dwyer."

"A pleasure." Pierre stepped forward and accepted the hand that was extended to him, bowing slightly and then bending his head to place an old world kiss on Katherine's fingers.

Katherine regarded the Vampire in front of her for a moment, sizing him up. He was tall, taller than Josef but not quite as tall as Mick, glossy black hair hanging in choppy waves just to the top of his shoulders, high cheekbones, deep set eyes dazzling the colour of sapphires. He presented quite the figure, despite the staid manner of his outfit, and Katherine's attraction was evident.

"Likewise." Katherine offered Pierre a charming smile and then reluctantly let his hand slip from hers, as Josef hovered in the background and tried not to make his sudden concern too apparent. "Roisin's in her room." Katherine directed politely then. "First things first though, Mr Lamont." She gestured a hand towards the table in the centre of the room. "I have some questions I'd like answered."

"The Order of….?" Katherine stared at Pierre across the table in wide eyed disbelief after he had finished filling her in on the details of the situation they currently found themselves in. "As in…?"

"That's what I said." Mick's expression was far too eager, and Pierre found himself having to stifle a laugh at the eye rolling look that Josef had shot Mick across the table.

"No, not as in…" Pierre gestured and then stifled another laugh. "But I can assure you it's not the first time I've seen that reaction from someone, in regards to our name. You're very fortunate I was granted permission to tell you about us as well you know. It's not our usual practice to divulge information to one so young."

"Must be the luck of the Irish." Katherine arched an eyebrow and offered Pierre a pointed smile.

"Indeed." Pierre returned Katherine's look in kind, a finger on the table in front of him tracing nonchalant circles. "Perhaps you'd care to join me for dinner one evening; you can tell me all about this luck of the Irish you possess."

Mick reached under the table and gave Josef's hand a quick, reassuring squeeze when he saw the dark look that passed over his features, both at Pierre Lamont's invitation and Katherine's subsequent acceptance.

"Well if there's nothing else?" Pierre stood up and excused himself from the gathering then, pausing to offer Katherine his reassurances once again that everything in The Order's power was being done to protect her family. "I'd best go see Roisin."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Roisin." Pierre tapped a finger gently against the page of the book opened in front of her. "Concentrate, please."

Roisin tried to focus her attention on the task in front of her. Less than five minutes elapsed before Pierre Lamont saw the situation was hopeless. Closing the book, he pushed it away from her and then waited for Roisin to speak.

"I hate it here." The anger in Roisin's voice was evident, her fists balled against her thighs. "There's no one my own age to talk to, Uncle Josef won't tell me bedtime stories anymore, all he does is follow Uncle Mick around and make stupid faces at him, Mum's on edge the whole time, and none of this would have happened if they weren't all…"

Roisin stopped herself just in time.

"Vampires?" Pierre finished the sentence for her.

Roisin's expression fell shocked, then fearful, and then incredulous. Rolling her eyes she let out a huff of breath and remarked under her breath. "Great, now my teacher's a walking corpse as well."

"I did hear that, you know." Pierre snorted a quiet laugh and then let his own expression fall serious. "And we're not…"

"…corpses, yeah I know. You're undead, not dead. Uncle Josef's already told me that part." Roisin rolled her eyes once more, with all the jaded knowledge of a child on the cusp of adolescence and then asked. "So are you going to pull that scary corpse face thing and frighten me now?"

Roisin's joking tone belied the fear Pierre could see written in her eyes.

"No, I'm not." Pierre's tone was soft, reassuring. He waited until he saw the tension fade from Roisin's expression and then asked. "So what else has your Uncle Josef told you? About why you're here I mean."

"No one tells me anything." Roisin's response was petulant, her lips pursed into a childish pout, voice high pitched and whining. "They all whisper and talk behind closed doors, and half the time it's like I'm not even here."

"I'm sorry to hear that," again the same quiet, reassuring tone, "Perhaps if you asked your Uncle Josef to explain more, he might tell you, you never know."

"He's told me bits and pieces." Roisin shrugged, expression uncertain.

'Ask him again." Pierre placed a hand on Roisin's shoulder and held her gaze with his own. "I think he'll talk to you this time, especially if you tell him I said so."

Pierre offered Roisin a hinting smile and then removed his hand and slid the text book back in front of her. Opening it to the text they had previously been working on, he tapped a finger against the page once again, and prompted Roisin with a gentle, "Now, concentrate."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uncle Josef!"

Josef watched as the doorway to his office burst open and Roisin appeared standing in it, arms folded and chin stuck out, defiant.

"Mr Lamont says that you have to tell me what's going on, all of it, everything."

The determination on Roisin's face was apparent, and Josef regarded the image of his niece standing in front of him for a moment. Behind the storm of precocious insistence, he could read something else, something far deeper, more primal…the fear of the unknown.

He drew an unneeded breath and then nodded his reluctant assent and called Roisin over to him, gesturing for her to take a seat in the chair opposite him, as he drew another breath and began to talk.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mick." Josef reached down and tapped a finger against the side of Mick's face. "Just stop for a moment, I really need to…"

"…no, you don't need to go down there, Josef." Mick raised his head and rolled his eyes, pre-empting Josef's words.

"But, Mick…"

"No, now for fuck sake lie back and try to pretend like you're actually enjoying this."

"I am enjoying…"

Josef's formed protest was cut off by a well aimed lubricated finger hitting against his prostate, eliciting a gasp of pleasure. He lay back and rested an arm behind his head, trying to concentrate on the different sensations, Mick's mouth working its way along his shaft, Mick's tongue swirling over the head of his cock, Mick's fingers penetrating him, stroking, stimulating. The sounds of relaxed conversation and laughter, the chinking of glasses, Katherine's lilting Irish voice graciously accepting repeated compliments, drifted towards him from downstairs.

"Mick, come on, stop for a moment." Josef was already moving away, rebuking Mick's attentions and shifting off the bed. "Seriously, I really need to…"

He hadn't managed to get more than three quarters towards the edge of the mattress, when he felt Mick's hands suddenly pressing against his shoulders, pushing him back down and pinning him.

"And I told you, you're not going down there." Mick's brow was scrunched in annoyance. "Why the hell are you so touchy about Katherine having dinner with Pierre Lamont anyway? She already agreed to spend time with him here rather than go out, at your request. You're jealous, aren't you?"

The hurt in Mick's voice was apparent and Josef quickly moved to try and offer his reassurance.

"No, it's not like that, ok?" Josef reached a hand up to caress Mick's face. "I just don't want her getting hurt; Pierre's too close to the situation we're in at the moment, that's all. Besides that, Katherine is my blood relation," Josef laughed and shook his head, "as if I'm going to be interested in my own blood in that way, Mick. You know incest never was one of my kinks."

"Really? I could have sworn you used to enjoy playing daddy with me."

Mick felt Josef's hands clutching the sides of his skull then, drawing him back into his space, his teasing reply partly swallowed by Josef's lips pressing against his own.

"Mick?" Josef broke the kiss momentarily.

"What?"

"Just shut up and fuck me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well I must say." Pierre grinned and tilted the glass in his hand towards the direction of the increasingly loud and frantic cries of pleasure they were privy to, Josef's voice ushering repeated commands of harder in-between exclamations of _Oh Christ_ and _Fuck, Yes._ "It's nice to know they obviously have a very healthy relationship."

"I'm so sorry." Katherine's voice sounded contrite and embarrassed. "I'll go tell them to keep it down."

"Katherine." Pierre reached a hand out to grip Katherine's arm, halting her as she went to move past him. "It's ok, really."

"No, it's not." Katherine returned Pierre's polite smile and then gently disengaged his hand from her arm. "You're my guest for the evening and we have a twelve year old child in this house, they don't need to be up there screaming half the neighbourhood down."

"May I offer a suggestion?" Pierre called out after Katherine's retreating form and waited for her to turn around. "Soundproofing the room might be an idea." He took a sip from the glass in front of him and arched an eyebrow in Katherine's direction.

"What, you know someone?" Katherine folded her arms across her chest and shot Pierre a determined look.

"I might do." Pierre pretended to shrug dismissively and then grinned. "I'll make the arrangements first thing tomorrow."

"Great, do it."

Pierre watched then as Katherine nodded her approval and strode off to deal with the situation in the meantime. She had all the fire of the Irish in her veins, and the good looks to match, he could feel his attraction to her growing with every passing moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What time did Pierre end up leaving?"

Mick stood in the kitchen and shifted nervously, sipping at the contents of the glass in his hand.

"About an hour ago." Katherine continued to busy herself with the task of tidying up. "Why?"

"No reason, I just wondered." Katherine could hear the hesitation in Mick's voice, as he put his drink to one side and picked up a stack of dishes. "I'm sorry about before, the noise I mean. I guess we sort of got a bit carried away."

Katherine was about to shoot Mick a cutting look, along with a sarcastic, "Gee, you don't say?" when she saw the look on Mick's face.

"Josef's just been a bit…" Mick helped Katherine load the dishes into the dishwasher and then gestured helplessly, "…on edge lately, you know? I've been trying to distract him, keep his mind off things."

"I know you have." Katherine keyed in the sequenced program numbers to start the dishwasher and stood up. "You're worried about him, aren't you?" She placed a concerned hand on Mick's arm.

"Yeah, yeah I am." Mick averted his eyes for a moment and let out a reluctant breath of admittance, the strain on his face clearly visible.

"Well you going to pieces right now isn't going to help the situation." There was no reproach in Katherine's voice, just gentle good humour as she reached up and brushed a few stray locks of hair from Mick's forehead. "Besides, I've already made arrangements with Pierre to rectify the situation," She arched a pointed eyebrow at Mick and grinned. "Pierre's arranged to have your room sound proofed, so the two of you can scream your blessed heads off up there as much as you like."

"Who's coming into this house to do what?"

Katherine's informing Mick of the arrangements she had made with Pierre, was cut off by Josef's sudden appearance, arms folded over chest and a demanding look on his face. Katherine took one look at his pale visage and felt her stomach turn. Mick's concern was well placed, Josef looked as if he hadn't slept or fed properly in weeks.

Katherine watched then as Mick pulled Josef to one side and attempted to placate him, fingers stroking through Josef's mop of hair, hands brushing the sides of Josef's face, and Josef's voice, cracked and insistent, counter arguing every reassurance Mick tried to give him.

Eventually Katherine had had enough.

"Roisin and I are going out." Katherine tossed the dish cloth in her hand to one side and began to remove the apron tied around her waist.

"Katherine." Mick held an arm out to stop Josef from responding too rashly. "It's past midnight, where exactly are you planning to go?"

"Nowhere." Katherine paused and let out a sharp hiss of breath. "Anywhere…away from him and his goddamn paranoia." The last line she directed at Josef with a pointed stab of her finger.

Despite her best efforts to broker a stance of defiance, Katherine's argument sounded hollow, even to her own ears. She wasn't going anywhere and she knew it. Her sudden outburst was nothing more than a bluff borne out of sheer frustration.

Josef knew it too, without saying another word he quietly turned away and walked over to the array of monitors and computer equipment in the lounge that was designed to alert them to any dangers that lurked in the shadows outside.

Mick glanced at Katherine, the same helpless expression clouding his face as before, and then walked over to join him.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Josef took one look at the man standing in the doorway, toolbox in hand and paint spattered overalls covering his overweight mortal body, and slammed the door shut in his face.

"A word, Katherine, please." Josef turned to his childe then, arms folded, legs and shoulders squared. "What did I tell you before?"

Josef's expression darkened with a distinct note of disapproval, his annoyance at what he perceived to be Katherine's direct defiance of his orders clouding his features.

"You didn't tell me a damn thing, Josef." Katherine accepted and returned Josef's challenge in kind, shooting him a withering look, her mouth drawn in a determined line. "All I've heard from you for the past three days has been more paranoid rantings about the danger we're in and not even the slightest hint of what you plan to do about the ridiculous amount of noise generated by you and your husband that Roisin and I have had to put up with for the past twelve years."

"You've never given any indication of this being a problem for you before, Katherine." Josef snapped back. "And half the time Roisin has either been away from the house or sound asleep in her room and completely oblivious to whatever I happen to be doing with Mick in our private time together. So why all of a sudden are you making an issue out of this?"

"It's not all of a sudden, Josef." Katherine pressed the pads of her fingers against her brow and tried to massage away her rising annoyance. "We've had words about this before and every single time you've promised me that you'll try and be more considerate and it never happens…"

"Oh for Christ sake." Josef interrupted Katherine's flow of words and threw up his hands in frustrated annoyance. "You're acting like we do it on purpose-"

"I never said-"

"- It's not like you've exactly been celibate yourself these past twelve years, Katherine." Josef ignored Katherine's readied protest and continued unabated. "You know how intense sex can be for Vampires."

"Josef." Pierre's voice cut in then. "Nobody here is going to deny that you obviously have a very intense and loving relationship with Mick…"

Josef watched as the man who had seemingly ensconced himself into their lives over the past days, got up from the couch where he had been sitting, listening to the conversation that was taking place, and walked over to where Katherine stood.

"….but clearly there is an issue here that needs to be resolved." Pierre draped an arm around Katherine's shoulders and aimed a polite, determined smile in Josef's direction. "Now that man at the door has been invited here at my request to offer you a solution to that issue. I suggest you let him in."

"Just like that." Josef snapped his fingers in the air and tossed his head in a sarcastic note of disbelief. "What, you expect me to open the door and let some stranger in to this house, and just how exactly do I know he's not going to waltz in here and lay waste to my entire family?"

Josef wasn't going to be that easily swayed.

"No, not 'just like that'" Pierre mirrored Josef's snap of fingers in the air in front of him. "Do you really think I would risk the wrath of my superiors in The Order in order to let someone into this house who hadn't first been painstakingly and thoroughly investigated? I'm not that much of an idiot as to just lay my head on a chopping block and wait for the axe to fall."

Pierre drew himself up to his full height, his gaze locked on Josef's. Josef held firm for a moment and then relented.

The matter resolved, Pierre nodded his approval and then quickly instructed Katherine to go upstairs to the play room where Mick was currently looking after Roisin, telling her to stay there until he called for the three of them to come out.

_"See, Josef."_ Pierre's expression seemed to say then. _"I'm not taking any chances with the safety of your family."_

Josef stood off to one side, glowering.  
_  
__"The nerve of the man, coming into my house and usurping my authority over my family."_

But then Josef had to remind himself that it wasn't his house and if it were that would have meant that he hadn't failed in his duty to protect his own family, and clearly he had because otherwise none of them would be in this damn predicament.

_Case closed, sentence handed down. Christ if he kept this up he might as well change his name to Mick St John._

The sound of the front door opening and Pierre ushering the man who stood on the doorstep inside, with a hastily muttered apology for his friend's previous rudeness in slamming the door shut in his face, broke through Josef's thoughts.

Josef snorted a quick laugh at his own expense and then tried to shake off the shackles of his own private self inquisition in order to concentrate on keeping a close eye on this flabby excuse for a mortal male currently standing in front of him awaiting instruction.

_"If he so much as looks in the wrong direction…"_

The expression on Josef's face was clear and Pierre offered him a tight lipped smile in reply and then proceeded to give Mr Blue Overalls, as Josef had begun to think of the man, his instructions regarding the exact layout of the room he would be working in and just what equipment he would need to fetch from his van outside.

True to his unspoken sentiment, Josef kept a close vigil over the proceedings, not letting the man out of his sight for a moment as he watched him go about his business, marking out areas on walls, drilling and cutting, pulling apart plaster and linings of insulation.

The entire process took less than four hours to complete and Josef had to admit he was surprised at both the speed and quality of the man's work, he had wrongly assumed him to be as slow and dumb witted as what he looked.

"Right, well if there's nothing else then?"

Downstairs, having completed the job he had been instructed to do and packed up the remainder of his equipment, Mr Overalls extended a chubby fingered hand towards Pierre and waited for his palm to be filled with cash, in payment for the services he had just rendered.

Pierre smiled, a cold dead smile, and then reached out and snapped the man's neck with a casual flick of his wrist.

"You see, Josef." The man's now lifeless body hung limply from Pierre's outstretched hand. "Like I said, you and your family are perfectly safe here. Nobody comes into this house apart from me, and my immediate associates in The Order, and lives to talk about it."

Pierre watched as a steadily growing spark of realisation began to form on Josef's face.

"You couldn't have cared less whether that room was soundproofed or not, could you?" Josef laughed and shook his head, raising his eyes skyward before grinning at Pierre with unabashed delight.

"Actually," Pierre inclined his head and returned Josef's self same grin. "I had half a mind to join you up there, if I wasn't so sure you would have torn me apart with your bare hands for daring to come anywhere near your precious Mick."

"Yes, well." Josef snorted another laugh and tipped his hand to Pierre in response. "I don't know about tearing you apart with my bare hands, but I probably wouldn't have been too impressed with you attempting to muscle in on my territory quite that far."

Despite the apparent pointed nature of Josef's reply, his tone held no malice. He was beginning to form the first notes of true respect for the Vampire standing in front of him. The way he had snapped that man's neck, so easily, no hesitation, not even a flicker of remorse or regret, Pierre Lamont could be just as ruthless as he was when it came down to it and his little planned display had been proof of that.

For the first time in weeks Josef felt himself beginning to relax.

"Now for Christ sake, feed." Josef heard Pierre instructing him then, the corners of his mouth drawn upwards in an indulgent smile as he thrust the corpse in his hands towards him. "You look like shit."


	6. Chapter 6

"What time is it?"

Josef awoke, bleary eyed and blinking back layers of sleep, to the sound of the freezer lid being opened.

"It's late, past midnight." Mick leaned into the cold receptacle and traced a hand along Josef's naked torso. "You've been asleep for ages; I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's ok." Josef sat up and shook the last vestiges of rest from his body. Climbing out of the freezer he wrapped Mick up in an embrace, feeling the warmth of Mick's body pressed again his own cold skin, and began to manoeuvre him over to the bed in the corner of the room, hands already working to remove clothing.

"I'm glad to see you're obviously feeling better." Mick laughed and disentangled himself from Josef's arms just long enough to strip off his remaining layers.

"Well I do think it's prudent for us to check out the quality of the work that was done in here, Mick." Josef arched an eyebrow and grinned, and then pressed the palm of his hand into the centre of Mick's chest and pushed him back onto the mattress below.

Joining Mick on the bed, Josef stretched himself out over Mick's body, and ran a tender hand through Mick's hair.

"You need to get your haircut." He said, curling tendrils around his fingers and brushing stray locks from Mick's forehead.

"I thought you liked my hair long?"

"I do." Josef shrugged and then bent his lips to Mick's neck and trailed a series of wet kisses along Mick's throat, pausing every now and then to nip lightly at the sensitive skin with his fangs. "But you could do with a trim."

"Style tips from Josef Kostan?" Mick scrunched his brow and then snorted a laugh. "I'm honoured."

Mick scruffed his fingers through Josef's own mop of hair. "You know I've always been partial to redheads myself."

"My hair is not red, Mick." Josef sat up, legs straddling Mick's waist and hands on hips. "It's auburn."

"Well it's sort of reddish." Mick reached for Josef and drew him back down towards him.

"But I can get a hair dye and set such colour there, brown or black or carrot, that young men in despair, may love me for myself alone and not my reddish hair." Mick heard Josef quoting to him then, changing the words of the poem ever so slightly to match the conversation at hand.

"What?" Mick laughed and shook his head, "You quote poetry to me now?"

"Yes." Josef raised himself up onto outstretched arms and pretended to look studious for a moment, before drawing the corners of his mouth up in a cheeky smile and rapid fire delivering, "Roses are red, violets are blue. Get on your hands and knees, lover, I want to fuck you."

"You idiot." Mick let out a groan and rolled his eyes, and then gave Josef a pointed smile. "And you're fucking me, are you?"

"Ok." Josef sat up again, resting back on his haunches, hands on hips once more and head cocked. "Let me just explain how the sex thing works here, Mick." Josef circled a hand in the air and then grinned down at Mick lying beneath him. "We can't both top."

"Oh I don't know might be fun to try." Mick returned Josef's self same grin and then laughed when he heard Josef's quipped reply of,

"Sorry, Mick, you're just not that flexible."

Josef pressed the weight of his body back down on top of Mick and began to move against him, grinding his hips against Mick's in slow, tantalising circles, lips seeking contact and hands stroking along the sides of Mick's torso. He buried his face against the side of Mick's neck and purred; a deep, guttural sound that emanated from his chest and reverberated throughout Mick's body.

"Oh shit." A shiver of arousal ran along Mick's spine. "Make that noise again."

Josef pressed his lips to Mick's ear and purred again, louder this time.

Mick drew his arms around Josef's neck and rolled with him, reversing their positions. Hand scrabbling along the top of the small cabinet next to the bed, he hurriedly retrieved the tube of lubricant he knew he would find there and slicked himself with an application of the contents.

Spread kneed and half seated upright, Mick hooked Josef's legs over his shoulders and began to penetrate him, slowly, pushing past the initial resistance and gradually easing his length into Josef's body.

Josef reached for him, trying to draw Mick closer only to be rebuked with a quick shake of a head and a heated murmur of, "Don't, I want to watch you."

Mick withdrew part way and then thrust back into Josef's passage. He repeated the motion, building a slow, steady rhythm, his cock pressing against Josef's prostate and heightening Josef's own sensations.

Mick watched as Josef began to work his hand over his own length, matching the same maddening beat of Mick's thrusts into him, drawing out his pleasure until he was stretched taught and strung on a knife's edge.

Mick began to lose himself in the moment, all sense of time disappeared, the build up of tension and arousal seeming to go on forever.

And then Josef's hands were reaching for him, gripping his arse and pulling him in deeper. A single rushed command of, "Fuck me," elicited from Josef's lips and Mick obeyed Josef's heated direction, the pace of their coupling becoming increasingly frenetic, building to a crescendo of heat and passion.

"Oh Christ…fuck…yes...that's it…keep going...keep going…God…fuck."

Josef's words were a clenched teeth whisper, head thrown back and body straining for release. Mick watched then as Josef's last threads of control snapped and he fell over the edge, fluid spurting onto his stomach, fangs sunk deep into the flesh of Mick's offered wrist.

Somewhere in the haze of his own pleasure, Josef became aware of Mick reaching his own climax, feeling the exquisite pain of Mick's own fangs biting into the skin of his throat.

And then he was riding the crest of another wave and falling into the abyss once again, sinking his fangs into the top of Mick's shoulder this time. He rode out the peak, body convulsing and another cry of release erupting from his lips as he felt the third wave crashing over him.

Josef opened his eyes a short time later to see Mick grinning down at him, a self satisfied, Cheshire cat smile plastered over his features.

"What are you looking so damn pleased about?" Mick heard Josef asking him then, eyebrows raised and expression teasing.

"Nothing." Mick stifled a laugh and then bent his lips to Josef's ear and whispered to him. "Have fun?"

"You know I did." Josef rolled his eyes, pretending to scoff indignantly, and then felt Mick withdrawing himself from his body.

"You know it's Roisin's thirteenth birthday next week." Mick rolled off to lie alongside Josef, one hand tracing lazy circles over Josef's chest and fingers outlining the bones and muscles of Josef's ribcage.

"I was aware of that." Josef arched into Mick's touch as Mick's hand sought lower, desire starting to rekindle. "Don't worry, we'll think of something for her, something nice." He caressed a reassuring finger down the side of Mick's face and then clutched a hand to the back of Mick's skull and drew Mick into his space.

Proceedings were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"What?" Josef's face bore a none too impressed expression as he opened the door just far enough to see Katherine standing out in the hallway and looking decidedly vexed.

"I just wanted to see if you guys were ok." Katherine's own expression was contrite, eyes averted and a sheepish smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "I just haven't been able to hear you in there."

"Wasn't that the general idea, Katherine?" Josef arched a pointed eyebrow at her through the crack in the door and then snorted a laugh and wished her a firm 'good night.'

"Right." Josef closed the door and then clapped his hands together and grinned, sauntering back over to the bed where Mick laid waiting for him. "Now where were we?"

------------------------------------------------------------

"I love a man in uniform."

Josef grinned and brushed a hand across the top of the American soldier's issue shirt that Mick was attired in for the evening.

"You do not." Mick snorted a laugh and drew his arms around Josef's waist, drawing him close, his breath fanning hot on Josef's skin as he kissed and nibbled his way along Josef's neck.

"Mick." Josef gently rebuked Mick's advances and disengaged himself from the embrace. "Come on, we don't have time for that."

"I know, it's just…"

"…The Vestments?" Josef shook his head, eyes raised skyward, and then offered Mick a pointed grin. "I know, you think I look hot in them, got that memo already thanks Mick."

"Yeah, alright." Mick rolled his eyes and pretended to look momentarily embarrassed, before reaching for Josef once again, drawing him back into his space, hands skimming over Josef's arse. "You sure we don't have…"

Mick had been about to ask if Josef was sure they didn't have time, but Josef cut him off with an exasperated frown and a quick "No."

"Later, ok?" Mick heard Josef telling him then, an invitation of things to come evident in the tone of his voice. "Come on." Josef reached for Mick's hand. "Roisin's waiting for us downstairs."

_"A come as you were party?"_ Mick had looked at Josef, brow furrowed in a question, when Josef had announced the intended plan for Roisin's birthday.

_"Well, it was Pierre's idea."_ Josef had replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Apparently we're not the only ones in this situation. We've been invited to one of The Orders main houses, Pierre thought the 'come as you were' theme might be a bit of fun. And of course it'll be good for Roisin to at least have some mortal children around as well."

"You were a soldier?" Roisin's face lit up, eyes wide in fascination at the uniform Mick was wearing.

"Yep, in World War Two, last century. Wait until you see what your Uncle Josef's wearing." Mick grinned and gave his niece a conspiratorial wink.

"Alright, it's not that big a deal." Josef appeared at Mick's side, pretending to huff and look indignant, a sly grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin stared at her Uncle and then got to her feet, head bowed in reverence.

"Roisin." Josef stifled a laugh and gestured for her to take a seat. "This is just a costume; I haven't been a real Priest in more than four centuries."

"Oh, ok, I know…it's just…" Roisin looked at the ground sheepishly then sat back down again. "It's just a little weird seeing you dressed like that, you know." Roisin drew a braid around to her mouth and chewed on it for a moment. "I mean it's cool, it's just weird, I don't know how I'm supposed to act around you when you're dressed like that."

"Well, how about you just act like I'm your Uncle Josef and this is just a costume for a fancy dress party." Josef arched a pointed eyebrow and smiled at his young niece.

"Ok." Roisin stifled a laugh of her own, her embarrassment evident, and then tilted her head, brow furrowed in thought. "So, were you Father Josef back then?"

"Father Luke actually, but we used the Latin form for our names in the 17th century so I was Father Lucias."

Roisin seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded her head, a wide smile creeping over her features.

"Uncle Josef." Roisin covered her mouth with her hand and tried to suppress the sheepish giggle that was forming. "Will you bless me?"

Josef rolled his eyes and pursed his lips in faux exasperation and then gave Roisin an indulgent smile.

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti." Josef traced the sign of the cross in the air and then shot Mick a warning look when he felt Mick's hand absentmindedly caressing the curve of his arse.

"We should get going." Josef announced then, to no-one in particular, raising his eyes skyward and shaking his head when Mick flashed a quick apologetic look and then arched an eyebrow and grinned. "We're already running late."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mick." Josef looked over his shoulder, brow furrowed and mouth set firm in annoyance, as Mick pressed himself against Josef from behind and ran his hands suggestively along the sides of Josef's torso.

"Oh come on." Mick drew his arms around Josef's waist and swayed against him, moving his hips in slow, languid, circles. "Roisin's having fun over there with the others, and Katherine's looking after her. Let's slip away."

Josef glanced over to where Roisin stood belting out a decidedly out of tune rendition of a song and dancing in formation with three of the other mortal children that were in attendance at the celebrations, laughing and stumbling as they tried to copy the steps of a dance routine that went along with whatever latest teenybopper pop sensation had captured their attention at that time.

"Where are we going to go?" Josef felt himself starting to relent.

"We'll find somewhere." Mick reached for Josef's hand and began pulling him away from the gathering. "Come on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stumbled through the door of the unlocked guest bathroom together; lips pressed together, fingers scrabbling urgently with buttons and zippers on pants.

"Oh shit." Mick clenched his teeth and drew in a sharp hiss of breath as Josef sank to his knees and took Mick's exposed erection into his mouth. Reaching down to grip the back of Josef's skull with one hand, Mick pressed his other hand hard against his mouth and tried to still the urge to cry out every time Josef swirled his tongue over the head of his cock.

And then Mick was bending down and gripping Josef's biceps in his hands, pulling Josef back up and drawing his arms around Josef's neck.

Mick peppered Josef's face and neck with urgent kisses, as he ground his pelvis against Josef's and growled a low, heated instruction in Josef's ear.

"Fuck me, right now."

They separated briefly, groaning with frustration at the momentary loss of contact, and hurriedly stripped off pants and underwear.

"Leave…"

"….the robes on, I know, Mick."

Josef pretended to huff and roll his eyes and then closed the space between them in one fluid rush of movement, mouth and body seeking heated contact. He had to admit it was easier negotiating this particular activity in a costume, as opposed to wearing the real thing. The material wasn't as heavy and there were certain differences in the fastenings and design. Of course had he been wearing the real thing then none of this would have been happening. Josef may not have been a real Priest for more than four centuries, but he still held at least a modicum of respect for the actual robes of his former office.

Josef lifted Mick up onto the vanity behind them with a muttered instruction for Mick to 'lay back', and then pulled him forward slightly, urging Mick to draw up his knees at the same time. Slicking his cock with a quick application of makeshift lubricant, appropriated from a bottle of body lotion found on the side of the cabinet, he hurriedly pressed himself against Mick's entrance, breath ragged and hitching.

"I love you." The words rushed out of Mick in a heated whisper. He lost himself in the sensation of Josef penetrating him, thrusting into his passage and hitting against his prostate with every stroke, sending sparks of electricity shooting throughout his body.

"Ditto." Josef's reply was a distracted murmur; part swallowed by Mick's mouth as Mick gripped the sides of Josef's skull and drew Josef's face towards his lips.

Words were reduced to incoherent moans and whimpers then, vocalizations of pleasure exchanged in the form of soft snarls and growls muffled by an urgent clashing of lips and fangs.

"Christ, fuck, I love you." Mick smothered Josef's face and neck with hot, wet kisses, and began to work his hand over his own length, stroking his erection in sync with Josef's thrusts.

"I know, ditto." Josef repeated back to him, quickening the pace of his thrusts.

And then Mick was arching his back and coming with a muffled scream of release, sinking his fangs into Josef's hand clamped tight over his mouth, body shaking and fluid flooding over his own hand and fingers.

"Oh fuck." Josef gritted his teeth and thrust forward one final time. Growling out the rhythm of his own release and biting into the skin of Mick's neck, he tightened his arms around Mick's shoulders and rode out the waves of his own orgasm crashing over him.

The last residual pulsations of their respective orgasms were barely spent when the sound of a familiar laugh, coming from one of the rooms down the hallway, reached their ears.

"Stop it."

Roisin's voice giggling and nervous, and then a boy's voice, cracking with the effects of puberty, whispering, enticing.

"Come on, relax."

Josef exchanged a furious glance with Mick, and quickly withdrew himself from Mick's body, pausing to adjust his state of dress back to a more respectable level, before flying out the door.

"Josef." Mick called out after Josef's retreating form. "Don't do anything stupid..."Shit!"

Mick quickly adjusted his own clothing and then flew out the door after him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We were just talking." Roisin scrambled off the bed, fingers scrabbling with the buttons on her blouse. Red faced and breath ragged, she stood frozen at the sight of her Uncle standing furious in the now non existent doorway, the door itself swinging broken off its hinges.

"And exactly what sort of conversation requires half the buttons on your shirt to be undone, Roisin." Josef folded his arms over his chest and locked eyes with his niece, challenging her protests.

"Hey chill." A long boned youth, with spun straw hair, spoke then. Josef supposed he was what teenage girls considered somewhat attractive, if it weren't for the braces and smattering of acne across his too thin face. "Bitch wasn't being forced or nothing."

An inhuman snarl erupted from Josef's lips, as he regarded the 'would be Casanova' reclining on the bed, one arm tucked under his head in a pose of affected nonchalance. In one sudden shift of movement Josef closed the short distance between them and yanked the hapless boy to his feet with a vice like grip around his neck.

"That bitch," Josef growled and lifted the boy a foot off the ground, letting his legs kick helplessly in mid air, "is my thirteen year old niece."

"Josef." Mick's hand tugged at the sleeve of Josef's shirt, imploring him. "Come on let's not forget where we are."

Josef tilted his head and regarded the youth, gurgling noises frothing from his mouth as he dangled and choked, with cold precision. With a sudden flick of his wrist he threw the boy to the ground, and then watched as the boy scrabbled to his feet.

"You can't do that to me." Spittle flew from the boy's mouth as he stammered out the words. "Fucking pussy arse faggot."

_"Oh shit, you just had to use that word didn't you?"_ Mick did the only thing he could think of to do at that moment. He walked over to the armchair against the far side wall of the room and slumped into it, head buried in hands, unwilling to look at Roisin's face when her dear Uncle Josef tore someone apart with his bare hands right in front of her.

Josef had other ideas. He supposed the boys words were meant to sound threatening, a postulation of teenage strength and masculinity. Instead the boy had come across sounding like a pathetic, frightened child, voice cracked and high pitch, a babe in the woods thrown into an impossible situation of Vampire versus Mortal realm.

Josef felt almost sorry for him, almost.

"Oh my God." Roisin spoke then, her tone brimming with eye rolling, teenage incredulousness. "Terrence, shut up. What are you, stupid?"

"Terrence?" Josef gestured towards Roisin and then pressed his fist to his mouth and stifled a laugh. "His name is Terrence?"

Josef had been white knuckled angry before, now he was merely amused at the situation, or perhaps he just needed time to gather his thoughts and decide exactly what to do with this striking figure of manhood now spluttering and stammering in front of him.

Killing Terrence was out of the question, Josef wondered if protocol extended to torturing him instead. He figured the boy could probably do with an attitude adjustment, in the form of a few broken bones.

And then Terrence opened his mouth and made the decision for him.

"Don't you know who my father is?" Bottom lip jutting and spit flying from the corners of his mouth, Terrence threw down his ace. "You'd better not mess with me, or my dad'll see to it that you never mess with anyone again."

"Really?" The amusement on Josef's face was evident as he sauntered over to the armchair where Mick sat. Nestling himself in Mick's lap, Josef arched an eyebrow and grinned at the boy standing in front of him, one hand stroking the back of Mick's neck in a gesture of pointed affection. "I think I'd like to meet your father."

Mick glanced up just in time to see Terrence's retreating form as he raced out of the room in search of his dad.

"You're just going to let him go?" Mick scrunched his brow in a question and shot Josef a sideways look of suspicion.

"He'll be back." Josef's smile played smug and knowing across his features, as he planted an affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face.

"You're actually enjoying this aren't you?" Mick snorted an incredulous laugh and shook his head. He glanced over to where Roisin sat on the bed, eyes averted, back resting against the headboard and knees drawn up. He watched as Josef followed his gaze, his expression darkening. Clearly there were some things that weren't a source of amusement.

Outside in the hallway a gruff voice, too deep to be that of Terrence's, and flavoured with a distinct note of cockney English, could be heard barking in discontent.

_"You did good son…the nerve of the bleeding sod…no son of mine is going to be treated like that…"_

"Ah, here it comes now." Josef grinned and clapped his hands together with unabashed sarcastic delight. "The idiot express, right on time."

_"You just leave everything to your dad, Terrence. He'll sort it." _

Josef watched as a no necked bull terrier of a Vampire burst through the open doorway, and then stopped dead in its tracks.

"Oh shit." Terrence's' father spluttered in horrified disbelief, mouth opening and closing repeatedly in what looked like the bizarre impression of a fish out of water gasping its last living breath as he stared wide eyed at the image of the man in front of him. "Josef Kostan."

The man's voice dropped to a reverential whisper as he spoke Josef's name, and for a moment Josef was almost certain Terrence's dad was about to throw himself prostrate at his feet.

Josef had to admit, he rather liked the idea of that.

"You know this little faggot?"

The sound of Terrence's voice, cracked and incredulous, broke through Josef's enjoyment of the moment.

"That little faggot…" Terrence's dad gritted his teeth and stabbed a pointed finger in Josef's direction, before falling into near spasms of contrite apology. "…Oh shit, Mr Kostan, Sir, I didn't mean no disrespect, I was just repeating what the lad said, I wasn't calling you a faggot…"

Mick groaned audibly at the stupidity of the man to repeat the word not once but twice.

"Dad…" Terrence's father ignored his son's protests and blathered on unabated.

"…you know how kids are these days; you try and raise 'em right, aint got no decency or respect…" The man was near groveling, stumbling and tripping over his words. "Me, I was only turned fifteen years ago, right when the lad here was a baby, haven't had a chance to ever be personally introduced to a man of your caliber, Mr Kostan. I'm Arthur, but my friends call me Artie."

With that Arthur leapt forward and grabbed Josef's, and then Mick's hand, pumping them both furiously as he continued to bow and scrape.

"…I take it this must be the wife then?" That last remark he directed to Mick. "Or whatever it is you lot call one another…Oh shit, no, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant…you just look like you're married is all, all happy like."

"Well that might have something to do with the fact that the circus appears to be in town." Josef arched an eyebrow and grinned at Arthur, feeling Mick's face pressed against his back, Mick's whole body shaking with paroxysms of silent laughter.

Josef's pointed quip appeared to sail right over the top of Arthur's rather dimwitted head.

"Dad…" Terrence tried to press forth another protest then, his bewilderment at his father's uncharacteristic fawning growing by the second.

"Shut up Terrence." Arthur turned to his son, growling out his command.

"...but Dad!"

"I said, shut up." Arthur reached out a hand and roundly clipped his son across the back of the head.

"You're just gonna let that pussy arse little fairy get away with what he did to me?" Terrence stared at his father dumbfounded, his voice cracking once more, raising an octave in incredulous disbelief.

"That…" Arthur stopped himself just in time. "That man over there," He directed a finger towards Josef, for his son's benefit, "is more than four hundred years old, he happens to be one of the most powerful Vampires here tonight, he could probably kill every single person in this room with his bare hands before I'd even gotten a chance to scratch my balls and wonder what's for breakfast."

Josef stole a glance over to the bed where Roisin sat, sullen and unmoving, as Arthur continued to berate his wayward son.

"Mr Kostan, Sir." Arthur directed his attentions back to Josef. "I cannot apologise enough for the lad's behaviour, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, anything at all, you just name it." Arthur looked around the room quickly and then dropped his voice to a level beyond the normal range of mortal hearing and repeated the word, "Anything," with a pointed raised of an eyebrow.

At that Josef grew tired of playing games.

"Arthur…Artie." Josef got to his feet then, fangs extended, eyes red rimmed and flashed to ice cold blue. Arthur began to back away in mute horror as Josef walked towards him, in slow measured steps. "If you, or your son, come anywhere near my niece, or dare to insult my husband, or refer to me as a faggot again…"

Josef paused for emphasis, his face inches away from Arthur's, Arthur's back now pressed against the wall behind him, his body trembling with fear.

"…I will kill you, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Sir." Arthur's voice was barely above a hoarse terrified whisper. "Perfectly clear, Mr Kostan, Sir."

"Good." Josef stepped back and offered the man a pointed smile, before snarling at him, his voice bristling with venom. "Now get out."

"Right, that takes care of that." Josef gestured for Mick to join him, after Arthur had turned heel and fled with his still protesting son in tow, and then turned his attentions to Roisin. "I think your mother might want a word with you, young lady."

Josef's attempts to play the stern authority figure went unheeded, as a previously moody and withdrawn Roisin suddenly sprang to life.

"I hate you." Roisin spat fire at her Uncle. "Terrence was the first person in weeks who really understood what it's like for me." Bitter tears streaked Roisin's cheeks, her face glowing red as she unleashed weeks of pent up frustration and anger. "Terrence made me feel like I was a normal mortal girl, not some damn Princess in a gilded cage who can't have any friends, can't go to school, can't socialise, can't do any damn thing because people are trying to murder her family and take her away to god knows where, and nothing feels safe anymore, Uncle Josef, I just want to feel safe again, why can't I just feel safe again."

"Roisin." Josef glanced at Mick helplessly, and then moved to try and comfort his now sobbing niece.

"I hate you." Roisin screamed the words at her Uncle once again, as Josef attempted to wrap an uncertain arm around his niece's shoulder. "I hate you, and I hate what you are, and I hate that my family are nothing more than a bunch of animated corpses who have to drink blood to survive."

With that Roisin turned and ran from the room.

"I'll go after her." Mick placed a quick, reassuring hand on Josef's shoulder and then took off after Roisin.

Mick always was better at dealing with a child's tearful outbursts than he was; Josef had to give him that.

Moving at a mortal's pace, not wanting to upset Roisin any further with an unnecessary display of Vampiric speed, Mick caught up with his young niece just in time to see her trip over the edge of an unruly mat placed haphazardly on the floor in front of her. Landing awkwardly on an instinctively outstretched arm, designed to break her fall, the resulting snap of bone could be heard echoing throughout the house.

"Christ!" Josef had covered the distance from the bedroom to where Roisin now laid, howling in pain and cradling her arm, in a few short seconds. "What happened?"

"She tripped over; I think her arm's broken."

Mick watched then as Josef gingerly took hold of Roisin's arm and studied the awkward angle it was now placed in, expression intent, as if he were waiting for something to happen.

"What?" Mick blurted and shook his head in disbelief. "You're waiting for it to heal? Are you fucking kidding me, come on, we need to get her to a hospital."

"Crap." Josef hesitated for a moment and then let go of Roisin's arm, eliciting another scream of pain from his hysterical niece. "I'll go find her mother."

--------------------------------------------------------

It was Pierre that Josef found first.

"Here." Pierre reached into the pocket of his pants and drew out a set of keys, after Josef had filled him in on the situation at hand. "Take my car. It's armoured the same as the vehicle that bought you here, you'll be safe in it."

"Thanks." Josef caught the keys in mid air with a reflexive snap of his wrist, as Pierre tossed them towards him. "I don't think her mother needs to know the exact details of what happened, ok?"

Pierre considered this for a moment and then nodded his assent. "Agreed. I have some matters to attend to first, Katherine and I will follow you."

"Did you find Katherine? What did she say?" Mick was on his feet; brushing away the dust of the old stone steps he had been seated on, as soon as he saw Josef appear in the open front doorway.

"I spoke to Pierre, they'll follow us." Josef hurried a dismissive hand through the air and then gestured towards the pale, wan figure of his niece seated on the same stone steps, gingerly cradling her deformed arm. "How is she?"

"In pain."

"We should hurry it along then."

Josef walked on ahead, hand extended, pressing a button on the small electronic pad on the end of the key ring to unlock the doors of Pierre's car, whilst Mick wrapped an arm around Roisin's shoulder and carefully drew her to her feet.

Roisin winced and let out a low moan, a tremor of pain running through her frame, as Mick opened the back door and helped her into the car.

"St Anne's should be just near here." Josef stole a glance over his shoulder, hand resting on the door handle of the driver's side door. Against the backdrop silhouette of the house, figures emerged from the shadows.

Mick followed Josef's line of sight and watching as the figure of Pierre Lamont, flanked by Order guards, lead a staked, and bound, Arthur and Terrence towards a waiting van.

Josef and Mick exchanged looks across the roof of the car, the meaning in their expressions apparent.

_"It's none of our business." _

Each mirroring the movements of the other, they opened the doors and slid into their respective seats then, seatbelts drawn and clicked into place.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin's voice was still and small in the relative silence of the car. "Where are they taking Terrence and his dad?"

Josef's hand rested on the keys in the ignition, his eyes focused on the gravel of the car park in front of him.

"Uncle Josef?"

Still no answer.

"They're going to kill them aren't they?" Roisin's voice raised an octave, the pain from her injured arm fuelling her hysteria.

Mick glanced over at Josef, stiff and unmoving behind the wheel of the car, eyes locked dead ahead, and then turned to his niece.

"Roisin," Mick tried to keep his voice as even as possible, reaching for Josef's hand at the same time. "Your Uncle Josef has explained all this to you, we have rules. Terrence and his father are loose canons; they pose a potential threat to the safety of the Vampire community." Mick paused and tightened his grip on Josef's hand, squeezing Josef's fingers between his in a brief gesture of reassurance. "Sometimes we don't have a choice."

"But that's not fair." Roisin was wailing now, the fingers of her uninjured hand digging into the seat in front of her. "Uncle Mick, Uncle Josef, please." Roisin's fingers dug deeper into the leather upholstery, her expression pleading. "Terrence is just a kid, I know he comes across like an idiot and says stupid things, but wouldn't you if you'd been raised by a dad like that?"

Josef drew in a sharp hiss of breath and bit down on his lower lip.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin's hand moved to her Uncle's shoulder now, fingers gripping cloth covered flesh, imploring him. "Please, Terrence only said all that stuff because he thought it was what he had to do to impress me; it's what he's been taught. Please…"

"Christ!" Josef let out a growl, the sound vibrating from his chest, deep and low.

And then he was slamming his fist into the steering wheel and wrenching the car door open before Mick had a chance to open his mouth and say anything to stop him.

Roisin watched out the back window as her Uncle strode towards the van where Terrence and Arthur sat and waited to be driven to their fate. She tried not to imagine Terrence's cries of fear, his dad barking at him, "toughen up son, treat em with contempt, you'll be like your old man one day, gotta learn the ropes."

An exchange of words, a few hurried gestures, a shake of a head and then a nod of assent. And Josef was striding back towards the car with a struggling Terrence slung over his shoulder.

"Sit down, and shut up." Josef threw the hapless teen into the back seat of the car and then climbed back into the driver's seat.

"I aint livin' with no pair of faggots." Terrence's attempted display of machismo was ruined by the sudden high pitched squeak in his voice, and the fact that his bottom lip jutted out and trembled unconvincingly.

"Terrence," Mick turned to face Terrence, his fangs extended, lips drawn in the parody of a smile. "Do you like your head being attached to your body?"

"Yes Sir." Terrence drew back in his seat and lowered his gaze, the words coming forth in a chastised murmur.

Josef had to laugh at the way Terrence had recoiled from Mick, as if the boy considered Mick more of a threat to him than he was. Josef figured it probably had something to do with the fact that Mick looked more masculine to Terrence's naive gaze. Appearances could be deceiving though, and for a moment Josef entertained the thought of ripping one of the boy's arms right out of its socket just to prove a point.

Instead he gunned the engine of the car with a quick turn of his hand on the keys in the ignition, and then planted his foot on the accelerator leaving a spray of gravel and skid marks in his wake.

They drove in silence for the most part, Roisin biting back cries of pain as the car drove over bumps and indentations in the road, jolting her injured arm, until they passed an all night liquor store and Josef wrenched the steering wheel to the left and pulled up sharply a few hundred metres past the neon lit building.

"Josef!" Mick leant out the passenger side window and called out after the retreating from of his husband, his brow furrowed in annoyance, wondering why in the hell Josef had decided to stop and purchase alcohol when they should have been getting Roisin to a hospital, pronto.

A few minutes later Josef returned to the car, a purchase of cheap scotch clutched in his hand, and revved the engine back to life.

"It's not for us, it's for him." Josef dropped the tone of his voice to a level only audible to Mick and offered a hurried explanation in response to the questioning look on Mick's face.

Several miles up the road, Josef pulled into a desolate clearing, tall forest looming overhead, twisted and gnarled in the light of the moon, and dragged Terrence out of the car.

"Drink." Josef snarled the command and pressed the uncapped bottle of Scotch to the teenager's mouth, pouring the contents down his throat. When he was satisfied Terrence had swallowed at least half he splashed the remainder of the alcohol over the boy's clothes, and then walked back to the car, leaving a shaken and bewildered Terrence slumped in the dirt behind him.

"Phone." Josef climbed into the driver's seat once again and extended his hand towards Mick, fingers curling in a gesture of, 'now'.

"I hope we don't end up regretting this, Josef."

"Funny, that's exactly what Pierre said." Josef cocked his head, and briefly arched an eyebrow in Mick's direction, before accepting the cell phone from Mick's proffered hand and dialing the number of Paris's main police station.

"No, I don't know the boys name; I didn't stop to ask him." Josef spoke in rapid fire French to the officer on the other end of the line. "Yes that's right, there's a young boy staggering drunk by the side of the road near the Fontainebleau forest. You might want to send a patrol car to pick him up before he gets himself killed."

Josef ended the call with the sharp press of a finger and then turned to his tear stained niece, her pale features masked with pain.

"Right, now let's get you to hospital."

Reaching for the keys in the ignition, Josef gunned the engine of the car for a final time, and then pulled the vehicle back onto the road.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"What happened?" Katherine's face was etched with concern as she rushed over to where her daughter lay stretched out on the narrow, metal framed hospital bed, her arm swollen and deformed and a grimace of pain clouding her features.

"I'm sorry darling." Katherine sat down carefully next to Roisin and drew an arm around her shoulders. "I got here as soon as I could."

"She fell." Mick stepped forward, hands held out in a placating gesture. "She landed…"

Mick's readied explanation was cut off by the clanking of plastic and metal as it crashed to the floor.

"Josef." Mick rolled his eyes and scrunched his brow with annoyance. "Will you leave the damn equipment alone."

"What?" Josef tossed his head and gave a dismissive shrug. Tubing, and other apparatus, tangled around his arms, and dropped at his feet in a twisted mess.

"Josef, just…"

"Yeah, alright." Josef rolled his eyes and pretended to look indignant for a moment, and then affected a perfect expression of school boy innocence, lips drawn in a sheepish smile.

"When you two have finished playing games," Katherine huffed with annoyance, arms folded across her chest, and eyes locked on the two Vampires standing in front of her, "perhaps one of you would care to tell me what happened?"

"Like Mick said," Josef brushed aside Katherine's concern with a quick wave of a hand, and the offering of a reassuring smile. "She had a fall. We were in the bathroom down the hall and…"

"In the bathroom, down the hall." Katherine repeated the words back to Josef, drenched in sarcasm. "I don't suppose I need to ask what you were doing in there."

"Probably not, no." Josef's quipped reply was served with a toss of his head and the arch of an eyebrow, the line of his mouth pulled into a smirk.

"At your niece's thirteenth birthday party?" Katherine raised her eyes skyward and then shook her head. "Christ, Josef. Couldn't the two of you wait until you'd gotten home?"

"What?" Josef's expression fell indignant once again. "It's not like we were doing anything in front Roisin."

"That's not…"

Katherine had been about to throw a clenched teeth response about Josef missing the point.

"He is my husband, Katherine." Josef cut in, arms folded across his chest and stance challenging.

"I thought you were supposed to have less sex once you were married." Katherine shot back, rolling her eyes and drawing the line of her own mouth into a sarcastic smile.

"Well maybe we're the exception to the rule." Josef walked over to where Mick had taken a seat in a chair, next to Roisin's hospital bed, and nestled himself in Mick's lap.

"You're the bloody exception to everything, Josef Kostan." Katherine tossed her head and laughed, easing the tension in the room. "Listen, stay here with Roisin, I'm going to see if I can't rustle us up some refreshment."

Placing a tender kiss on her daughter's forehead and brushing her fingers through her hair, Katherine gave Roisin her reassurance that she wouldn't be long, and then left the small curtained cubicle where her daughter lay.

"Uncle Josef?" Roisin, silent until then, spoke up. "Thank you."

Her Uncle's planned diversionary tactics had not gone unnoticed.

"You're welcome." Josef smiled a dismissive smile, the fingers of his hand tracing casual circles over the clothed flesh of Mick's shoulder.

Although he was trying not to show it, Mick knew Roisin's words had stung Josef more than he cared to reveal.

"Uncle Josef." Roisin tilted her head to one side and regarded her Uncle with a questioning look. "You weren't really having sex with Uncle Mick in the bathroom were you?"

Josef and Mick both laughed when they saw the pursed lipped look of reprobation on Roisin's face.

"Of course we were." Josef arched a quick eyebrow in Mick's direction and then grinned at his disapproving niece. "He likes it when I'm dressed as a Priest."

Josef momentarily brushed aside his disquiet and mouthed the words to Roisin, snorting a laugh when he saw her roll her eyes and huff with adolescent indignation.

"Uncle Josef." Roisin's face continued to radiate disapproval. "I really did not need to be told that."

"Yeah, Uncle Josef." Mick pressed a pointed finger into the small of Josef's back. "She really did not need to be told that."

"Oh don't you start." Josef pretended to huff and roll his eyes, and then snorted a laugh and placed an affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face. "Besides," he said then, another grin forming over his features. "It's not like it isn't true. She should see what you're like when I speak in Latin."

"Oh God, shut up, shut up, shut up."

Roisin pressed her hands against her ears without thinking then, a stab of pain shooting along her injured arm as she unwittingly moved it.

"Ok, no more jokes." Josef's brow furrowed with concern as he saw the look of agony that swept over his niece's face. "We don't need you doing yourself another injury."

"If I was a Vampire, I'd be healed by now."

Roisin's voice was childlike in its frustration, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"I thought you didn't want to be a corpse." Josef moved over to the bed where Roisin lay and wrapped his arm around her, letting Roisin nestle her head in the crook of his shoulder.

"I don't." Roisin sniffed and scrubbed the back of her uninjured hand over her eyes. "I just want my stupid arm to stop hurting."

"We'll get you some more pain relief." Josef glanced over at Mick and gestured for him to go find a Doctor.

Waiting until Mick had left to do his bidding, Josef reached into a pocket in the trousers of the costume he was wearing, and drew out a small package.

"I was going to give this to you when you turned eighteen," Josef explained as he handed the parcel wrapped in red tissue paper to Roisin, "but with everything you've had to put up with lately, I think I'd like you to have it now."

Roisin hesitated for a moment; her child's brow scrunched with curiosity, and then quickly tore the wrapping off of the present she had just been presented with, revealing the heart shaped gold locket that lay inside.

"Open it." Josef instructed Roisin then, watching the expression on his niece's face as she stared at the small portrait revealed to her. "It's my sister, her name was Miriam."

"She looks like me when I was a baby." Roisin studied the picture with fascination. "What happened to her is she a Vampire like you?"

"You would have met her by now if she was." Josef averted his eyes for a moment and drew breath to speak. "She died when she was an infant."

"This must mean a lot to you then, Uncle Josef." Roisin gestured her head to the locket held in her hand, and then placed a spontaneous kiss on Josef's face. "You're really sweet sometimes, you know that?"

"I am not sweet." Josef rolled his eyes and furrowed his brow with disapproval. "I am a powerful, and noble, ruthless Vampire who just happens to like taking care of his family."

"You are so sweet." Roisin pressed the fingers of her uninjured hand against her mouth and stifled a giggle. "Uncle Mick knows it, Mum knows it, and now I know it too."

"Well I suppose I can't argue with such a wealth of knowledge, now can I?" Josef laughed when he saw the curt nod Roisin gave in response.

"Happy birthday, Roisin." Josef whispered to his niece then, and placed a tender kiss on top of her small head once again nestled in the crook of his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

"Happy birthday Roisin." Josef stood over his niece seated cross legged on the couch in front of him, and smiled. "I said, happy birthday Roisin." Josef repeated and bent down to pluck the headphones out of Roisin's ears.

"Hey, I was listening to that." Roisin's brow furrowed in annoyance.

"What on earth are you listening to anyway?" Josef stared at the headphones in his hand for a moment and then placed them into his ears, his senses assaulted by a metallic wailing of guitars and the screeching of indecipherable vocals.

"Let Jesus fuck you." Roisin shrugged and snatched the headphones back off of her Uncle.

"Charming." Josef cocked his head and smirked at his niece, Roisin's ears once again plugged with the deafening roar of thrashing guitars and clashing drums, returning to her previous gum smacking, head banging reverie. "I thought you were supposed to become sweet when you turned sixteen."

Josef rolled his eyes skyward for a moment, before bending down to place an affectionate kiss on the side of Roisin's face; his efforts rewarded by a scrunch nosed look of distaste, and then wandered off in search of Mick.

The Legion's attacks had seemingly ended more than two years prior, almost as quickly as they had begun. There had been a few minor incidences since that time, more childish pranks and annoyances than anything, but for the most part they had been able to breathe a collective sigh of relief and get on with their lives.

They still lived in the safe house they had moved into all those years before, Josef having purchased the property from The Order for an undisclosed amount of money.

Roisin had been able to return to outside education. Not at boarding school as was originally planned, but at the School of Knowledge, the institute for mortal relations of known Vampires, run by Pierre Lamont. Pierre Lamont himself had become a regular fixture in the Kostan household, a relationship between him and Katherine not only blossoming but going from strength to strength.

Mick had caught several breaks business wise, and now found himself the first port of call for anyone needing the services of a good P.I.

As for Josef, he still spent his days straightening Mick's collars and adjusting the sleeves of Mick's shirt. Some things would never change.

"Just what on earth are you supposed to be?" Josef found Mick sprawled out on his stomach on their bed upstairs, dressed in a grey button down shirt and faded brown corduroy pants, a pair of fake horn rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

"What?" Mick looked up at Josef, forehead scrunched in momentary question. "I told you last week, I'm going undercover."

Mick shrugged and returned to the pile of books in front of him.

"As what?" Josef leaned against the frame of the doorway and arched a curious eyebrow. "The Nutty Professor?"

"A College student." Mick's eyes continued to track across the page laid out in front of him.

"Well my beloved." Josef stifled a laugh and then deadpanned. "You'll certainly be beating them off with sticks in that get up."

Josef shifted away from the door and over to Mick then, straddling Mick's thighs and tugging at the tails of Mick's shirt.

'Josef." Mick glanced over his shoulder and huffed in annoyance. "I'm kind of busy right now."

"No you're not."

Mick laughed and shook his head at Josef's matter of fact response. After sixty six years he really should have learnt by now, you didn't say no to Josef Kostan.

Rolling onto his back, Mick reached for Josef, drawing him into his space. Hands fumbled to remove layers of clothing, fingers worked deftly along lines of buttons and tugged at zippers until they had stripped one another of their respective material accoutrements.

"Lie on your stomach." Josef whispered to Mick then, nodding his approval when Mick obeyed his instruction without question.

Reaching into the bedside cabinet, Josef drew out a small bottle of pressed almond oil and poured some of the contents over Mick's back.

"Christ." Mick yelped as the cold liquid hit his skin. "You know you could've warmed that up first."

"Oh stop complaining, Mick." Josef rolled his eyes and slapped Mick once, lightly on the rear, and then slid his hands along either side of Mick's spine, fingers massaging away knots of tension, gliding across the muscles of Mick's oil covered back and shoulders.

"You're good at that." Mick settled his head on his forearms crossed in front of him and relaxed into the sensation.

"I'm good at a lot of things." Josef's tone bore a distinctly salacious edge.

And then Josef's lips and tongue were following the line of his hands, tracing their way along the ridges of Mick's spine down to the crack of Mick's arse.

Mick moaned, fingers digging into the mattress beneath him, when he felt Josef's hands spread his cheeks, and then Josef pressed his tongue against Mick's hole, rimming him.

"Oh shit." Mick moaned again, louder this time, and Josef reached a hand under Mick's hips and formed a fist around Mick's cock, encouraging Mick to thrust into his hand as he continued to penetrate Mick's arse with his tongue as far as he could go.

Mick's breathing fell ragged, sweat diffusing his skin, the movement of his hips becoming increasingly erratic. And then he was coming with a muffled cry of release and sinking his fangs into the flesh of his own wrist, flooding Josef's hand with his fluid as he snarled and growled his way through the climax that tore through him.

"When was the last time you did that?" Mick rolled over onto his back when the last pulsations of his orgasm were spent, and stared up at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath.

"It's been a while." Josef moved up to lie alongside Mick, one hand tracing absentminded circles over Mick's chest. "I thought I'd give you a treat."

"You're so generous." Mick snorted a laugh and wrapped his arms around Josef's shoulder, drawing him into an embrace.

"I am aren't I?" Josef raised himself up and flashed Mick a cheeky grin.

"What about you?" Josef heard Mick asking him then, Mick's face etched with genuine concern.

"You can take care of me when we got home." Josef shrugged and then quickly added, "Roisin's birthday dinner, remember?" when he saw the questioning look that had fallen over Mick's face.

"Ah, ok." Mick nodded his understanding. "Pierre's taking us out to some fancy restaurant, I'd almost forgotten. What time are we leaving?"

"In around another," Josef glanced at the watch on his wrist, "hour or so."

"Great." Mick arched a seductive eyebrow and shifted his weight to lie on top of Josef, hips grinding against Josef's in teasing, languid circles. "Then you don't need to wait until we get home, we've got plenty of time."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Up." Roisin's fist hammered against the plexiglass lid of the freezer. "Get up."

"Christ, what time is it?" Mick pressed the release button on the side of the Freezer and then struggled to sit up, scrubbing his hands over his face and stifling a yawn.

"Just past 7.30 am." Roisin shrugged, seemingly un-phased by the fact that her Uncle's were both lying stark naked in front of her. "Mum spent the night at Uncle Pierre's; one of you will have to take me to school."

"Oh, so he's Uncle Pierre now." Mick arched a teasing eyebrow and stifled a laugh at his niece's expense.

Roisin rolled her eyes and ignored her Uncle's pointed comment.

"Ok." Mick said then, brushing away more cobwebs of sleep. "Go and get dressed, I've got to be at work on assignment by 9 am anyway. I'll take you."

"I am dressed." Roisin screwed up her nose and furrowed her brow, regarding Mick with a tell tale look that indicated she did think he was both blind, and stupid at that very moment.

"Not like that you're not." Mick tried to adopt a stern expression, gesturing his head towards the microscopically short skirt, and far too tight cropped T-shirt Roisin was attired in.

"She looks fine, Mick." Josef stirred and rolled over, one leg draped across Mick's upper thigh. "Don't be so old fashioned."

"Josef," Mick drew the corners of his mouth into the parody of a smile and tapped a pointed finger against the side of Josef's face, "try actually opening your eyes and looking at what our darling Roisin considers appropriate school attire."

"Good lord." Josef sat bolt upright, layers of sleep suddenly torn away as he stared at the image of his niece standing in front of him. "Roisin, you look like a two bit whore."

"Well you'd know, wouldn't you, Uncle Josef?" Roisin cocked her head and folded her arms across her chest, attitude posed and expression defiant. "Wasn't that about the going rate back in your day?"

"The cheaper end of the scale." Josef matched Roisin's own defiance with a pointed smile, and then instructed her to. "Get changed."

"But I don't have…"

Roisin had been about to offer up a protest regarding a lack of clean clothing or so she was prepared to claim. Seeing the no nonsense looks on both her Uncle's faces, she backed down, choosing instead to wander off muttering something about the unfairness of life as a teenager, under her breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Josef, come on we don't have time."

Mick felt Josef's hands reaching for him in the confines of the shower, his body already responding to Josef's touch despite his formed protest.

"There's always time, Mick." Josef trailed a hand along Mick's torso, tracing rivulets of water.

And then Josef's fingers were clutching the sides of Mick's skull, outlining angles of flesh and bone.

"In over four hundred years, I have never loved anyone the way I love you."

Mick no longer questioned Josef's occasional outbursts of emotion, his seeming need to almost force heated declarations of feelings down Mick's throat. As if he didn't quiet believe Mick truly understood, and needed to be reminded of the fact. Mick did understand though, Josef was as obsessive as he was passionate when it came to his partner of more than sixty years.

"I know, I love…"

Mick's planned response was halted by Josef sliding down Mick's body, kneeling on the cold floor of the shower in front of him, his lips encircling Mick's erection.

"Oh Jesus, christ, fuck."

Exactly twelve point eight seconds later, Mick was clutching the tiled wall behind him with one hand, needing to brace himself against it as he exploded into Josef's mouth, and reaching for Josef's wrist with the other. Sinking fangs into flesh as his orgasm ripped through him hard enough for him to see stars.

"Told you we had time." Josef was on his feet then, arms drawn around Mick's neck, and mouth seeking contact.

Mick returned the kiss, tasting himself on Josef's lips, tasting Josef.

"I love you." It was Josef who broke away first, carefully disengaging himself from the embrace and then pressing his lips against Mick's ear, repeating his previous declaration.

"I know, ditto."

Mick paused for a moment and then wrapped his arms around Josef's waist once again, briefly drawing Josef back into his space, and placing another kiss, more tender, less needy this time, on Josef's lips. Before taking a step back and positioning his body under the direct spray of water overhead.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Guess who?"

Josef came up behind Mick, seated at one of the tables and benches that surrounded the expanse of the Paris-Sorbonne University, and placed a hand over Mick's eyes.

"Gee, let me think?" Mick rolled his eyes and put on a display of tiresome annoyance, his pretence belied by the teasing smile playing across his features. "Because you know, it's not like I didn't scent, or hear you coming a mile off, Josef."

"Hey, sarcasm's my department, remember." Josef arched an eyebrow, and pretended to scoff. Taking a seat on the bench next to Mick, he drew an arm around Mick's waist and placed an affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Mick's brow furrowed in a question as he returned Josef's affections.

"I missed you, I wanted to see you." For a moment it almost looked as if Josef was going to pout.

"Josef." Mick shook his head in disbelief, lips drawn in an exasperated smile. "I left the house at 8 am. It is now," Mick quickly checked his wrist watch, "just past 12 pm. I've been away from you for a fraction over four hours."

"So?" Josef shrugged, the expression on his face indicating he saw nothing wrong with his behaviour.

"So, are you stalking me now?" Mick taunted Josef good naturedly, brow arched, and another teasing smile on his face.

"It's not stalking if you love someone, Mick" Josef huffed and compressed his lips in an expression of indignation.

"No, of course not." Still teasing, Mick reached out a hand and patted the side of Josef's face, receiving another indignant, pursed lipped look, for his efforts. "Stop being so touchy." Mick snorted a laugh and quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then tilted Josef's face towards his, and placed a brief tender kiss on Josef's lips. "You know the feeling's mutual."

"What, are you worried someone's going to see us together, and think we're a couple?" Josef rolled his eyes, a mock indulgent grin turning up the corners of his mouth. Mick's quick sweep of the area, before kissing him, had not gone unnoticed.

"Josef, I am working at the moment." Mick shook his head, his patience starting to wear thin. "I'm supposed to be undercover, not attracting attention to myself. Besides," Mick gave Josef another scrunch browed questioning look, "I thought you were supposed to be working today as well, didn't you have some deals to close off?"

"I closed them." Josef smiled casually and waved a dismissive hand. "Lost a million, made five."

"Just another day at the office, hey Josef?" Mick laughed and reached for Josef's hand, getting to his feet and pulling Josef up with him.

"Come on." Mick swept another quick gaze across the expanse of grounds that surrounded them, before drawing an arm across Josef's shoulders. "I don't think my target's going to show. We can head to one of the local bars and grab a drink."

"Not with you dressed like that we're not." Josef arched an eyebrow, and gestured towards the geekish ensemble Mick was attired in.

"Oh for the love of…" Mick raised his eyes skyward and then gave Josef a mock indulgent smile of his own. Removing the fake horn rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, he scuffed a hand through his hair, quickly un-tucked his shirt, and then undid the top three buttons. "Better?"

"It'll do." Josef cocked his head and grinned, and then wrapped his own arm around Mick's waist, drawing him close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, did her majesty get off to school alright then?" Seated across the table from Mick, Josef snorted a laugh, and then threw back a draw of the fine malt Scotch in his hand.

"If you can call spending the entire car ride refusing to speak, and staring out the window like the sky was about to fall down around her ears, then yes she did."

Mick scrunched his brow, and rubbed a hand over his chin, his concern for Roisin's sullen behaviour apparent.

"I think you should probably take a look at this." Josef's own disquiet was evident as he drew out a sheet of paper from the pocket of his suit pants, and pushed it across table towards Mick.

"Crap." Mick let out a frustrated sigh as he scanned the report card in front of him. Roisin was failing all but one subject. "Did Roisin give this to you?"

"Nope, I found it." Josef swallowed another quick mouthful of Scotch. "Stuck down the back of her wardrobe, under a pile of clothes."

"Wait." Mick shot Josef a sideways look. "You were snooping in her room?"

"No, not snooping, looking." Josef rolled his eyes and huffed with affront. "I couldn't find the shirt I wanted to wear with this suit; I thought it might have gotten mixed up with some of Roisin's clothes."

"Of course you did." Mick offered Josef a patronising smile, indicating he didn't believe what Josef had just told him for a moment. "Have you shown this to Katherine yet?" Mick's expression fell serious then.

"I thought we might have a quiet word with Roisin ourselves first." Josef swirled the glass in his hand, and then drained the last dregs of the malt liquid.

"Why, because we're her 'cool' Uncles?" Mick rounded a pointed eyebrow, lips drawn in a knowing smile.

"Exactly." Josef's tone was serious, devoid of the sarcasm that might have otherwise been expected.

"Over indulgent Uncles more like." Mick laughed and shook his head, raising another pointed eyebrow in Josef's direction.

Josef chose to ignore Mick's remarks, brushing them aside with a dismissive wave of a hand, and a forced conciliatory smile.

"Look, she's an intelligent girl; she's not failing subjects because she's stupid."

"You think there's something bothering her?" Mick's expression fell serious. "She's not having those nightmares again, is she?"

The nightmares had developed shortly after Roisin's thirteenth birthday, the house resonating with the chilling screams of a terrified child on an almost nightly basis. They had gradually abated by the time Roisin had just past the age of fourteen. As far as anyone knew, there had been no recurrence since that time.

"I don't think so." Josef chewed on his bottom lip and looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, I don't think that's it, but something's not right, and I intend to find out what that something is."

Josef brushed his hands together in a gesture of final resolve, and then shot Mick a suspicious, raised brow look when he saw the Cheshire cat grin plastered across Mick's features.

"What?"

"Nothing." Mick stifled a laugh and cleared his throat. "I was just wondering exactly when you turned into me?"

"Last Friday, 2.57 am." Josef quipped back, brow raised, and a smirk on his face. "I could have sworn I sent you a memo."

"Nope, sorry, must have missed that announcement." Mick tilted his own glass of a Scotch towards Josef in a mock toast, and then swallowed back the remainder of its contents.

"Anyway." Josef trailed another dismissive hand through the air, attempting to brush aside his concerns for Roisin, for the time being at least. "Enough doom and gloom."

A sly smile crept over Josef's features then, one eyebrow arched in a salacious expression. Taking a moment to quickly check the length of the starched linen cloth covering the table, he instructed Mick to "Act casual," and then ducked beneath it.

"Act casual? What the….Oh shit!"

Mick gasped, eyes widening, and breath hitching in his throat as Josef unzipped his pants, releasing Mick's cock from its constraints, and began to work his lips and tongue over Mick's length.

"Josef." Mick hissed Josef's name through clenched teeth, sharply prodding Josef's kneeling form with his foot. "What the hell are you doing, people are going to notice."

Mick reached a hand under the table then, intending on putting a halt to proceedings. Instead he found himself almost unwittingly gripping Josef's head; fingers digging into the top of Josef's skull, guiding the pace of Josef's attentions.

Mick lowered his head, fist pressed against his mouth in a desperate attempt to stifle the moans of pleasure that were threatening to burst forth, silently hoping his ever increasing arousal would pass unnoticed.

Too late, the manager of the establishment was already making his way towards the table.

"Sir." The manager cleared his throat, his tone, and manner politely professional. "I'm sure you are aware that this establishment does cater to a certain clientele..."

"I know. Sorry, we'll just be…" Mick had been about to say they would just be leaving, quietly and without fuss, but the sentence caught in his throat, and came out sounding more like an incoherent snarl.

"…however, we do expect certain standards of behaviour. Perhaps you and your gentleman friend might care to finish up, and then vacate the premises, immediately."

Breath ragged, the corner of the table cloth bunched in his fist, Mick tried to offer another apology, the words punctuated by a series of staccato pants and growls erupting from his lips.

"We will…straight…away, I'm…I…Oh God, Fuck!" Without thinking Mick grabbed hold of the man's wrist, biting into flesh and muscle as he exploded into Josef's mouth.

Eyes averted and expression mortified, Mick carefully extricated his fangs when his orgasm was spent, and muttered a hurried apology, hand fumbling under the table, working on adjusting himself back to a more respectable state.

"Were leaving, now." Mick gritted his teeth and hissed at Josef, seated once more across the table from him, casually dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah alright, keep your fangs in." Josef grinned, and raised a cheeky eyebrow.

"Now, Josef." Mick repeated, louder this time, a furious look directed towards his husband still grinning at him across the table.

"Ok, alright." Josef rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, glaring back at Mick with a pointed look of annoyance, before getting to his feet, and quickly shoving a couple hundred Euros into the top pocket of the manager's shirt.

"A little something for your trouble." Josef offered with exaggerated politeness, and then turned just in time to see Mick's retreating form storm out the door.

"Mick." Josef caught up with Mick outside, grabbing his arm and spinning Mick around to face him. "What the hell's up with you?"

"What's up with me?" Mick stood hands on hips, jaw thrust forward and expression incredulous. "One minute we're discussing the very real possibility that our niece may have a problem she needs help with, and the next you decide to just slip under the table and randomly blow me? And you don't see anything wrong with your priorities there, Josef?"

"Look, I didn't mean…well you enjoyed yourself, didn't you?" Josef stepped towards Mick then, drawing his arms around Mick's neck, a puppy dog look of contrition on his face.

"Well it was a bit hard not to." Mick rolled his eyes and snorted a quick laugh, his anger already starting to abate. "I really don't know why I put up with you sometimes?" Mick wrapped his own arms around Josef's waist and drew him close.

"Because I'm adorable and you love me?" Josef quipped helpfully.

"Asshole." Mick muttered out the corner of his mouth with a teasing smile, as they began to move off down the street together.

"Rat-catcher." Josef shot back, the corners of his mouth drawn upwards in a teasing smile of his own.

"Rat-catcher?" Mick halted in his tracks for a moment, regarding Josef with a tilted head look of bemusement.

"What?" Josef shrugged. "It was a popular insult back in my day."

"I'm sure it was, Josef." Mick laughed and shook his head. "C'mon," he said then, placing an affectionate kiss on the side of Josef's face. "We should be getting home. We need to have that talk with Roisin." Mick gestured a hand towards the Hotel over his shoulder. "And I need to pay you back for that little performance of yours back there."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You were snooping in my room." Roisin hissed the words across the table, teeth clenched and expression fuming.

"Not snooping, looking." Josef leant forward and hissed back at Roisin, a pointed, snakelike sound. "What?" Josef shrugged, and then sat back and grinned when he saw the eye rolling look of contempt Roisin had given him. "I thought we were having a hissing contest."

Roisin shot another eye rolling glare across the table, lips pressed together in an indignant line, and then glanced down at the report card in front of her.

"Where's Katherine?"

"You mean your mother?" It was Mick's turn to speak, brow scrunched, and expression marked in a question.

"No, Mick." Roisin folded her arms across her chest, emphasising her Uncle's name when she spoke it. "I mean Katherine, my sister, remember. I don't have a mother anymore, and I don't have Uncles, I have two brothers now."

"So that's what's bothering you." Josef ignored Roisin's refusal to call Mick 'Uncle', and tried to offer his niece an understanding smile.

"Don't patronise me, Josef." Roisin snipped at her Uncle, her teenage defiance shining through clench teethed glares.

"And don't you speak to me in that manner, Roisin." Josef stabbed a pointed finger towards Roisin.

"Josef." Mick placed a hand on Josef's arm, and then looked across at Roisin. "Why didn't you come and talk to us about this?"

"I don't know." Roisin shrugged and scratched at an imaginary spot on the table with a distracted fingernail.

"Roisin." Josef spoke then, voice low and concern evident. "Look, we know it's not easy for you being the only human in a household of Vampires, but…"

"Not easy for me?" Roisin was suddenly on her feet, hands splayed on the table in front of her, leaning across and shouting the words in her Uncle's face. "Try damn near bloody impossible."

Both Josef & Mick raised simultaneous, shocked eyebrows at Roisin's outburst.

"I'll age, you won't." Roisin railed on unabated. "Am I supposed to eventually pretend my own Mother is my daughter, and then my granddaughter? And I suppose you'll eventually become my sons and grandsons." Roisin threw up her hands in a gesture of utter frustration then. "It's not fair; I just want a Mother and two Uncles."

With that Roisin turned heel and stormed away from the table, heading upstairs to her room, and slamming the door shut behind her.

"That went well." Josef arched an eyebrow at Mick, lips pressed together in a sarcastic line.

"She's a teenager." Mick reached for Josef's hand, and tried to offer a smile that was a lot more reassuring than how he actually felt at that moment. "She'll probably move onto another crisis all together by next week. What?"

Mick arched a questioning eyebrow when he saw the look Josef was giving him, a mixture of adoration and the stifled urge to laugh out loud.

"You're so naively charming sometimes." Josef snorted a laugh, and then leant over to press his lips against Mick's in a brief, affectionate kiss.

"Well isn't that why you fell in love with me in the first place?" Mick tilted his head, brow furrowed in a teasing expression.

"Something like that." Josef's expression fell serious then. "I'd better have a word to Katherine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Am I a bad mother?" Katherine looked down at Roisin's report card in her hand, and then looked at Josef, expression helpless.

"No." Josef shook his head, and smiled at Katherine, concern for his childe apparent as he drew his arms around her neck and kissed her forehead. "Am I a bad Sire?" Josef leant back and regarded Katherine with an arched brow, teasing look.

"Yes. You're horrid, simply dreadful." Katherine pretended to pout for a moment, and then laughed, glad for the momentary break in tension.

"I'd better go have a word to her." Katherine glanced upwards, a reluctant sigh escaping from her lips, and then moved off to speak to her daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How'd it go?" Josef glanced over his shoulder as Katherine descended the stairs.

"Did you wear him out again?" Katherine grinned and pointed to Mick, curled up asleep in Josef's lap.

"Not this time, no." Josef snorted a laugh, and then arched a pointed eyebrow in Katherine's direction, one hand stroking the back of Mick's neck. "And don't change the subject."

"It went about as well as could be expected." Katherine slumped into the armchair opposite, shoulders hunched under a weight of concern, and a note of defeat on her face. "She's pretty upset, and very, very confused. Poor little mite."

Katherine worked her teeth distractedly over her bottom lip, fingers drumming against her chin, lost in thought for a moment.

"Lestat knows people in theatre, doesn't he?" She asked Josef then, leaning forward in her seat, eyes widening with clarity of vision.

"Yes, why?"

"No reason." A smile beamed across Katherine's face. Shifting over to where Josef sat with a sudden rapidity of movement, she placed an affectionate kiss on the side of his face. "I've just had an idea."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Just because it bears repeating," Josef tipped the stemmed glass of Blood Wine in his hand, towards Katherine, "This idea of yours is ingenuous; I only wish I'd thought of it myself."

Brushes were dipped into pots of powders and paints, layers of colour and shade were applied to Katherine's skin. The man who had introduced himself as 'Henri', tilted Katherine's face more towards the light in the room, and continued to work his artistry, aging her by at least fifteen years.

"Thanks." Katherine managed to make a noise, akin to a muttering of gratitude, through pressed lips.

Trying to remain as still as possible, Katherine felt stickiness daubed over her skin. And then pressure, more bristled dabs and sweeps of a brush, and thin sheets of flesh coloured latex were applied to strategic areas of her face.

When he was done, Henri took a step back, and surveyed his handiwork.

"How long does it take to…?"

Henri pre-empted Katherine's formed query with the raise of a hand, and a polite offering of. "Not that long, we can speed the process up."

"What time did Mick say he'd be back with Roisin?" Katherine asked Josef then, as Henri blew warm streams of air over her skin, from the nozzle of a hairdryer.

"He didn't. I'm supposed to ring him when you're done." Josef turned to Henri, his question asked in the form of a quick hand gesture.

"Give me another five minutes, and I'll be finished up."

"Great." Josef nodded his understanding, the corners of his mouth turned up in a polite smile. "I might as well go and phone Mick now then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How long did he say they'd be?" Katherine stood up, hands fidgeting nervously, fingers smoothing the crumpled lines of her dress.

"Ten minutes, give or take. Relax, you'll be fine." Josef shifted to stand alongside Katherine, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and drawing her into a quick, reassuring embrace. "I'd better go and take care of the financial arrangements with Henri. I do believe he actually expects to be paid for his work."

Josef's expression fell mock incredulous. And then he was tossing Katherine a cheeky, raised brow grin over his shoulder, and moving off to take care of business.

Roisin in tow, Mick was walking through the open doorway just as Henri was making his exit.

"Well, and?" Josef cocked his head and arched a questioning eyebrow at his niece. "Did you have a nice time at your friend's place?"

"It was alright, I guess." Roisin shrugged her reply, and affected a disinterested expression.

"Nothing impresses you anymore, does it, Roisin?" Josef quipped, flicking his head, and then offering Roisin a patronising smile.

Again, the same shrugged, disinterested response, and for a moment Josef had to seriously bite back the urge to call his niece a brat to her face.

"Come on." Josef forced a smile instead, and placed a hand on the small of Roisin's back to guide her. "Your mother's got a surprise for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello, darling." Katherine was on her feet, arms extended, and an expectant smile on her face, as she saw her daughter approach.

"Mum?" Roisin stared at her Mother, eyes wide and mouth open. Katherine looked like…She looked exactly like…  
_  
__"She looks like my Mother."_

"What have you done?" Roisin spoke those words out loud, her voice hesitant, and expression uncertain.

"It's just makeup sweetheart." Katherine moved to reassure her daughter then. "Do you remember Lestat?" Assuming her daughter did, Katherine continued on without waiting for an answer. "A friend of his did it for me. I thought this way we could actually spend some time together as Mother and Daughter, and you won't have to pretend we're sisters."

Roisin suddenly appeared very shamefaced.

"You didn't have to do this for me, Mum." Roisin averted her eyes, looking down at the ground in front of her.

"Oh, I know." Katherine smiled and moved closer to her daughter, draping a motherly arm around her neck. "But I wanted to. Come on," Katherine said then, giving Roisin's shoulder a quick squeeze. "I've booked us in for a Mother Daughter Day Spa package, you interested?"

"Yeah." Roisin pressed a hand to her mouth, and stifled embarrassed laughter. For a moment the years were peeled away, and she looked how she was as a child of twelve. "I'll just go grab my coat."

With that Roisin planted an excited kiss on her Mother's cheek, and rushed upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know we've got the house to ourselves now, for the next five hours at least." Josef rested his knees against Mick's, and leant back against Mick's arms drawn around his neck, brow arched, and mouth turned up in an expectant grin. "You want to get up to some mischief?"

An overly eager expression fell over Mick's face. "Ok, you bring the eggs; I'll grab some toilet paper, and meet you outside in five minutes."

Mick couldn't suppress the bubble of laughter that welled from his lips, at the indignant, eye rolling looks Josef was giving him.

"Not what you had in mind?" Mick stifled another burst of laughter, and pretended to look perfectly innocent.

"Not exactly, Mick." More eye rolling indignation, and then Josef was drawing Mick close, mouth and body seeking heated contact. "I was thinking of something a little more pleasurable."

"Upstairs?" Mick arched a suggestive eyebrow and grinned at Josef.

"No, right here's fine by me."

Josef's reply was deadpanned, and for a moment Mick couldn't be sure if he were joking or not.

Until he felt Josef's hands pressing against the top of his shoulders, and pushing him down to the floor below.


	8. Chapter 8

"I thought we were supposed to be spending some quality time together before you go away?"

Mick's breathing was ragged, his skin diffused with a layer of sweat.

"We are." Josef used a finger to brush aside damp strands of hair plastered across Mick's brow, and then leaned forward to place a hotly received kiss on Mick's lips. "I'm getting all the quality time I need, right here."

"But don't you want to, I don't know, do some sight seeing, or something?" Mick felt at least some protest was in order, even as his body was already once more responding to Josef's touch, Josef's fingers trailing a sensitive path along Mick's torso.

"I'm sight seeing right now." Josef's gaze followed the line of his hand. "I'm thoroughly enjoying the sights actually."

Mick groaned, and Josef arched an eyebrow, and grinned at him.

"Close your eyes." Josef pressed his lips to Mick's ear, and whispered to Mick then. "I want to treat you to something."

An involuntary shiver ran down the length of Mick's spine. Josef's tone had been thick with promise. Mick let his eyes fall shut, and then felt his cock spasm in anticipation when he heard the distinct metallic sound of a tin being prised open.

And then Josef's fingers were inside him, one after the other. Coated with grease, they slowly stretched, and expanded the rings of muscle and fibre. Until Josef felt Mick's body relax, allowing him to penetrate deeper.

Mick drew his knees up to his chest to give Josef better access.

Josef studied the expression on Mick's face carefully, noting his reactions, watching for signs of when he needed to back off, and when he could press forward. Mick's brow was furrowed in concentration, forehead dampened with sweat. His mouth hung open slightly, and staccato pants and snarls of approval elicited from his lips.

Josef had asked Mick once why he enjoyed this particular activity so much. It seemed to Josef that having someone's entire hand up your arse would hurt more than anything. It certainly wasn't on his top list of 'things I simply must do before I clock up half a millennia'. Besides that, he'd always figured they were simply too physically mismatched to ever seriously entertain the idea of swapping place in that regard, not without risking injury at least.

Mick had looked sheepish for a moment, and then admitted that the initial appeal had had far more to do with the idea of punishment than any pleasure Mick thought he might have received. Men just weren't supposed to enjoy the things they did together, especially not from the receiving end of the equation. He'd had that particular moral persuasion drummed into him almost all his mortal life, in one way or another. He thought the pain of the act would be a way to offer some sort of atonement. He had been shocked to find he actually enjoyed it, far more than he had expected to.

Josef had teased Mick then, telling him if he didn't know Mick was raised as a Baptist he would've thought him a perfect candidate for Catholicism.

And then Mick moaned, a sound long held by Josef's ears, and Josef found himself transported back in time. Back more than sixty years.  
_  
__April 25th 2008_

"What you're asking me to do."

Josef's words sounded hollow even to his ears, his protest had trailed off slightly at the end, his voice catching in his throat. Even so he'd felt at least some sort of protest was in order, after what Mick had just asked of him.

But Mick couldn't possibly have known, not then, how could he have? He'd already been wedded to Coraline when she had first turned him. The feelings created, designed to strengthen the bond between Sire and Fledgling, would have been overshadowed by that fact.

For a moment Josef entertained thoughts of telling Mick, laying it out for him in no uncertain terms. Here we go, Mick, this is what you're asking of me, this is it exactly.

Josef never got the chance. Suddenly Mick's fists were balled against his chest, shoving him up against the door. And Mick's face was inches from his, words being shouted at him, Mick begging, pleading with him.

"He has Beth, he has my Beth."

Josef's resistance gave way. He could count on the fingers of one hand all of the times he had refused a request from Mick, this wasn't to be one of them. His eyes searched Mick's face, Mick's lips were so close, and for the briefest of moments he was tempted to kiss those lips. But this wasn't how he wanted Mick, the warmth of humanity emanating from Mick's skin, mortality flowing through his veins.

"Mick, forgive me."

And then Mick was offering his neck to Josef, and Josef's fangs were penetrating sharply into the soft flesh there, draining the mortality from Mick's body. Josef silently prayed Mick would forgive him, or at the very least not resent him too greatly, for too long a time. Mick himself had forced this situation on Josef after all, left Josef feeling stuck between a rock, and a hard place, with nowhere to turn but towards reluctant acceptance.

Mick moaned, a deep guttural sound that had echoed through Josef's fantasies for decades, and Josef found himself shivering in response, having to consciously fight back the feelings of arousal that sound created in him.

He laid Mick's near lifeless form down on the kitchen bench, and forced himself to concentrate on the task ahead. This was the moment of truth. Josef removed his jacket, and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt, and then bit deep into the flesh of his own arm.

_"Oh god let this work, please let this work, don't let him die, don't let him be another Sarah, I can't lose him, I don't care if he hates me for the next hundred years, I can't lose him."_

Josef's breathing fell ragged as he watched the precious drops of his own Vampiric blood falling from the wound on his arm to splatter across Mick's lips.  
_  
__"Take it all, Mick."_

Josef whispered the words under his breath, his mind barely registering that he had spoken them. For Mick though, he would have gladly given his last drop of blood. That much he was sure of. He had loved Mick, had been _in love_ with Mick, for close to forty years by then.

And then Mick's tongue was extending to lick the drops of Josef's blood from his lips, Mick's hands reaching for Josef's arm, his mouth closing on the bloody wound.

Josef found himself once again having to consciously fight back the feelings that stirred within him. Mick mewling, and whimpering, Mick's hips undulating as he sucked at the blood flowing from Josef's skin.

Josef looked on then as the wounds on Mick's neck began to heal, the scratches and cuts on his face fading away to leave his skin smooth, and unmarked. Mick sat up slowly, and opened his eyes, the light of humanity gone from them to be replaced by a different light, one that was far more feral, a light that Josef had long held dear.

Mick snarled, a bittersweet note of regret, and regained Vampiric power now flowing once more through his veins, and then turned his head towards Josef. The corners of Josef's lips drew upwards in a grinning hiss of approval, and for a moment he allowed himself to revel in the knowledge that Mick had returned to him, the old Mick, the Vampire he adored, the way Josef wanted him.

Josef found himself being snapped out of his reverie of enjoyment by the unmistakable shift in Mick's expression. Mick came at Josef, eyes, and body radiating dark desire, a hunger that needed to be fed. Josef had been expecting that, he'd seen it happen often enough with others he had turned. Once the initial shock of the turning had worn off, they all seemed to want the same thing.

In a supreme act of self control Josef sidestepped Mick's advances, and commanded him to, "Get control of yourself." The tone of his was voice sharp, leaving no room for doubt, or argument. He took the opportunity at the same time, to remind Mick of the reason why all of this had occurred in the first place, Beth's current predicament, the appointed task at hand.

The sound of Mick's voice, babbling near incoherent and desperate sounding words of arousal, pulled Josef back to the present time. He felt disorientated for a moment. The memories of that evening had left his sense of equilibrium feeling unbalanced.

He concentrated on the noises Mick was making, the words streaming forth from Mick's lips.

_"Oh Jesus, Christ, Fuck, don't stop, Oh God please don't stop. You're gonna make me come, Oh shit you're gonna make come so fucking hard."_

Josef drew an arm around Mick's shoulders and lifted him partway up, pulling him close, and letting Mick bury his head in the crook of his shoulder.

Mick's vocalisations changed to near sobs of pleasure. Josef had already felt Mick tighten rhythmically around his hand, Mick having reached climax without final release, the two things actually separate physiological events, at least three times by that stage, from what Josef had been able to count.

And then Mick was sinking his fangs into Josef's flesh, and Josef was actually very glad, in that moment, that Mick was a Vampire. Because Mick's screams, loud enough to wake the dead, or to at least have the entire hotel come running to see what the hell the all the commotion was about, were being thankfully muffled by Josef's neck.

Mick's body convulsed in Josef arms, his fluid pulsing in hot spurts over his abdomen. Josef waited for Mick's orgasm to subside, and then slowly lowered him back down to the mattress below, and carefully withdrew his hand from Mick's passage.

"Oh shit that was intense." Mick fought to catch an unneeded breath as the last climactic pulsations died away, and he found himself snapping back into reality.

"Don't ever say I don't look after you." Josef teased Mick then, laughing, and grinning down at him with a cheeky expression playing over his features.

"You've always looked after me, Josef." Mick's reply was spoken in earnest, the back of his hand reaching up to brush the side of Josef's face. "I know that."

"Yeah, well." Josef shrugged, and pretended to look nonplussed. "That might have something to do with the fact that I just happen to be madly in love with you."

"Yeah, well, ditto." Mick shot back with a pointed laugh, and a cheeky grin of his own.

Before he arched a salacious eyebrow, and shifted to slide down the length of Josef's body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What time do you leave?"

Mick sat on the bed and watched as Josef dressed himself in the vestments of a Catholic Priest, following the ages old rituals that accompanied the donning of such garments. They had arrived home early the previous evening, the package containing the robes Josef was to wear to Ireland, arranged by Father Patrick to be sent to Josef in the event of his death, arriving at their front door shortly after.

"Soon, in another hour or so, there'll be a limousine waiting to take me to the airport." Josef noted Mick's intensely focused gaze, Mick's eyes tracking his every move. He opened his mouth to offer Mick a reminder of the exact nature of the outfit he was attired in.

"I know." Mick held up his hands in a placating gesture before Josef had a chance to speak. "It's not a costume."

Josef regarded Mick warily for a moment, and then smiled, and nodded in gratitude.

"If you promise not to try and jump me," Josef sat beside Mick on the bed then, rosary beads in hand, "I'll let you stay and listen to me say the Rosary in Latin."

"Josef." Mick laughed, and shook his head. "I do have my limits you know. I think it'd probably be best if I just left you to it." Mick stood up, and then bent down to place a quick, affectionate kiss on the side of Josef's face. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I still don't want you to go." Mick stood on the front doorstep with Josef half an hour later, his voice cracking with emotion. For a moment he looked close to tears.

"Mick." Josef reached up a hand to brush strands of hair from Mick's forehead, and then wrapped his arms around Mick's shoulders, and drew Mick into an embrace. "I'll be home before you know it; you won't even get a chance to miss me. I promise."

They stayed like that for a few moments, holding onto the last few moments of shared proximity, until Josef stepped back, and held Mick at arms length.

"I have to go."

"I know."

Mick nodded his understanding, and then watched as Josef picked up his suitcase and began to walk towards the stretch limousine that had been arranged to transport him to his private Jet stationed at Paris's main airport.

"Josef." Mick called out after Josef's retreating form. "I love you."

Josef smiled at Mick's words, and turned back to face him for a brief moment.

"Ditto."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Does that hurt?"

Mick looked up from the glass of blood he had been nursing for the past half hour, and stared at Katherine blankly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your chin dragging on the ground like that." Katherine offered a pointed arch of an eyebrow, and gestured towards Mick's hangdog expression. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, very funny." Mick furrowed his brow, mouth set in a clamped lip line of indignant annoyance.

For what seemed like the umpteenth time, Mick found himself thinking of Josef, wondering what Josef was doing, how he was, was he missing Mick as much as Mick missed him.

Josef had been away for five days by then, and Mick was in no mood for any of Katherine's teasing banter, good natured or otherwise.

"Mick," Katherine rounded the kitchen table, and placed a comforting hand on Mick's shoulder, giving the muscles underneath her fingertips a quick squeeze, "Call him, you've got the number."

"I really shouldn't." The tone of Mick's voice gave the impression that he had already resigned himself to remaining miserable sans Josef, at least for the short term. "Josef needs to keep up appearances while he's there; they think he's still a bona fide ordained Priest. How's it going to look if some guy out of the blue starts calling and asking to speak to 'Father Lucias', who do I say I am, his husband?"

Mick snorted a wry laugh, and shook his head at the thought of phoning St Mary's Priory and asking if he could possibly have a word with the man he had married in Paris almost seventeen years ago, for a second time, finally, after fifty one years together. Father Lucias.

"If they ask, pretend you're a parishioner in need of spiritual guidance from the good Father." Katherine shrugged, and then smiled and brushed her hands together as if she had just solved all of Mick's problems for him in one fell swoop.

Mick hesitated for a moment, swirling the glass of blood in his hand. And then his expression broke out in an expression of barely contained excitement.

"I'll just be upstairs, on the phone."

Mick grinned, and then sculled the remainder of the contents of the glass he was holding, and shot from the kitchen table. Leaving a chair upturned in his wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Josef."

All of Mick's pent up longing came rushing forth in the prayer whispered delivery of Josef's name.

"Mick." Josef's tone, previously lackadaisical, suddenly sounded very alert, and more than a little perturbed. "What are you doing call me here? You'll risk giving me away."

Josef had lowered his voice so that only Mick could hear what he was saying. Nevertheless he still kept his head down, and crossed his fingers that whoever might happen past would just assume he was tending to one of his flock from back home.

"I'm sorry, I just…I miss you, I wanted to hear the sound of your voice." Mick's own voice fell pleadingly contrite. His tone, raised octave thin. "If anyone asks," Mick offered helpfully. "Just pretend I'm one of your parishioners from back home."

"What do you think I'm doing, Mick." Josef chuckled over the line. "And you know I've missed you to."

The expression in Josef's voice softened when he said those words.

"How is everything, when's the funeral?" Josef heard Mick asking him then, the tone of Mick's voice filled with echoes of concerned sympathy.

"Everything's fine, a little weird to be completely immersed in this role again, but fine." Josef reassured. "The funeral's being held tomorrow evening, just after vespers."

"Will it be in Latin?" The tone of Mick's voice shifted to subtle invitation.

"Yes." Josef listened to the sound of a belt being unbuckled, buttons being undone, a metallic zipper being lowered.

"Will you be wearing the robes?" Mick's hand formed a loose, open palmed fist around his erection, and began to stroke.

"Of course." Josef's voice took on a panicked edge. "Mick, I seriously cannot be listening to_ you_ doing _that_, not here, not now. Not while I'm sitting in a more or less public thoroughfare of a church where people might happen to believe I'm a man of the cloth, for God Sake."

"Can you take the call somewhere else?" Josef heard the rustling of bed sheets, as Mick sat up. "I just thought you sounded like you needed the distraction."

"Yeah, I do." After a moment's hesitation, Josef's voice came through the other end of the line with a surety of admittance. "Just give me a chance to change into street clothes; I'll call you from the phone booth up the road."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh God it's good to hear your voice, Mick." Able to speak more freely, the words rushed out of Josef in a torrent of relief, and emotion. "You wouldn't believe how much I've missed you."

"Yeah, I think I might actually." Mick laughed pointedly. "I've been going crazy here without you."

"Likewise." Josef's reply was simple, and to the point. "Where are you exactly?"

"Upstairs, lying on the bed in our room." Mick swapped the receiver of the phone over to his other ear, and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"What are you wearing?"

"Clothes."

Josef almost swore he could see the cheeky, teasing grin on Mick's face then.

"Oh very funny, smart alec St John." Josef's voice quipped down the line.

Mick had to laugh when he pictured Josef's sarcastic eye roll of disapproval.

"Black jeans, grey shirt actually." Mick said then. "The one you bought for me last year. I'd only just taken a shower before I called you as well, so my hair's still damp."

Josef felt his cock spasm, and an unneeded breath catch in his throat at the mental image Mick's words had just transcribed to him.

"What are you doing?" Josef's voice began to take on an inviting edge.

"Enjoying the sound of your voice, and wishing you were here with me."

"And what would we be doing if I was, Mick?"

"Everything." Mick's single word reply matched the salaciousness in Josef's voice note for note.

"Tell me."

Josef let his eyes fall shut and concentrated on the images of imagined desire that Mick had begun to weave for him. Mick's voice dripping with dark held promise, describing every single raw and filthy act they had ever performed on one another in explicit detail. Mick's breathing falling shallow and irregular, the words being spoken punctuated by soft snarls, and moans of arousal. The sound of hand on flesh as Mick fisted his cock, and stroked the length of it.

It was too much. Josef crouched down in the restricted space of the glass cubicle, and frantically worked at the buttons and zipper on his own pants.

"Keep talking." Josef released his own erection into his hand, and quickly closed his fist around it, pumping himself from base to tip.

But Mick had lost the ability to form a coherent sentence. His words replaced by continual groans of pleasure. Josef increased the pace of his own attentions, his hand becoming a blur of movement along the length of his own cock.

Oh, Jesus, Fuck."

And then Josef was sinking his fangs into the flesh of his own wrist, breathing ragged, whimpering with pleasure as his cock twitched and spasmed in his hand, and flooded his fingers with semen. His orgasm heightened by the noises he could hear coming through the receiver on the other end of the line, as Mick reached his own conclusion.

"Thank you." Josef spoke with a chuckled note of relieved pressure when his orgasm had finally subsided, and then stood up and adjusted himself back to a more respectable state, using a handkerchief drawn from the pocket of his trousers to wipe the seminal fluid from his hand.

Their conversation ended on a tender note of exchanged promises, and declarations of love.

"Mick, I really should be getting back now." Mick could hear the reluctance in Josef's voice.

"Yeah, I know." Mick's own acceptance sounded just as reluctant. "Josef…"

Mick didn't need to finish that sentence. Josef's reply had already formed on his lips.

"Ditto."

Josef said his goodbyes then, and hung up the phone. Lost in conversation, and a shared moment of pleasure, Josef hadn't even heard the man sneak up on him. In a rare moment of negligence, for him, and good fortune, for the other, Josef was caught off guard.

"Enjoy yourself then did you, Father?" The man's voice clipped matter of fact from behind.

Josef spun around just in time to feel the sharp bite of wood, as a stake was plunged straight into his heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katherine took one look at the expression on Mick's face, and knew instantly that something was terribly wrong.

"Mick, what is it?"

Whoever had been on the other end of the call Mick had just received, had caused the receiver to fall from Mick's hand, and his face to turn ashen with fear.

"Mick?"

"Josef…" Mick swallowed back rising bile, and struggled to get a hold of himself. "Josef hasn't shown up for Father Patrick's funeral this evening. He's been missing since last night."

"Oh, crap."


	9. Chapter 9

"Mick."

Katherine stepped in front of Mick, trying to block his frenetic whirlwind of activity. Mick sidestepped her, and continued rifling through draws, and cupboards, retrieving weapons, checking lines of sight, packing a steady arsenal of firepower into a bag slung over his arm.

"Mick, for God sake." Katherine took hold of Mick's arm, fingers digging into the muscles of Mick's bicep, effectively halting him in his tracks. "Where on earth do you think you're planning to go?"

"Where the hell do you think I'm going, Katherine?" Mick tried to shake Katherine off. "I'm going to get Josef."

"Oh, and what," Katherine held firm, "you're just going to wander the Irish streets with a loud speaker calling Josef's name?"

"No, I…" Mick scrubbed a hand over his face, his frustration clear. "I have to do something. I can't just sit here while…"

Mick's voice trailed off; cracked with emotion. He dropped the half filled bag he was carrying, and slumped to the floor, back against the wall, and knees drawn up to his chest.

"This is all my fault."

"You're incredible. You know that, don't you?" Katherine shook her head, and stared down at Mick for a moment, an incredulous look on her face.

"I should never have let him leave, I should have stopped him, I should have told him he couldn't go, I should have…"

"…You should have what, Mick?" Katherine interrupted Mick's flood of self reproach, and sat down beside him. "You're telling me you think you could have seriously stopped Josef from attending Father Patrick's funeral, let alone officiating at it?"

"I should have…" Mick wiped another frustrated hand across his forehead, and then shook his head. "No."

"You can guilt trip yourself all you want, Mick." Katherine placed a reassuring hand on Mick's shoulder, and tried to radiate comfort. "After we get Josef back. I'm going to call Pierre, The Order should have a better idea of what to do, I'm sure they'll be able to help us."

Katherine gave the top of Mick's shoulder a quick squeeze, and then stood up.

Mick's hand snatched Katherine's wrist as she turned to leave, fingers gripping vice like around flesh and bone.

"You tell Pierre he has to find him, ok?" Mick's voice bore a desperate, pleading edge.

"I will, Mick."

"He _has_ to find him Katherine. You make sure he understands that, please."

"I will." Katherine gently extricated Mick's hand from her wrist, and went to place a hurried call to Pierre Lamont.

Josef couldn't be sure how long he'd been, wherever it was he now found himself. Hours maybe, days perhaps. A dark hood drawn over his head, blocking all vision, had left him disorientated in time and space, a series of moments blurring into one.

The area around him smelt dank, filled with the stench of decay, and stagnant water. The stake had been removed from his chest, to be replaced by restraints made of silver. Arms chained against a wall, and legs shackled to a cement floor.

At some stage he felt those chains being removed, heard the sounds of guard's footsteps shuffling purposefully around whatever area he now occupied, busying themselves with the task of transporting their quarry to its appointed destination.

Strong hands half carried, half dragged his weakened form through twists and turns of corridors, to leave him stripped naked and silver shackle bound to a stone bench in a freezing cold room.

"Hello faggot."

A familiar face swam into view, as the hood from Josef's head was finally removed.  
_  
__"I really hope we don't end up regretting this, Josef."_

"I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here?"

Josef's eyes tracked Terrence's form warily as Terrence paced, and gestured, in front of him.

"…well after you so kindly had my Father murdered, and left me dumped staggering drunk on the side of a French road in the middle of some desolate woods, god knows where…"

Josef could almost taste the vile ingratitude in Terrence's voice.

"…The Legion were lucky enough to just happen by at the right time, and voila, here I am." Terrence laughed; a dark sound bereft of any merriment, and trailed a hand along Josef's torso, feeling the muscles of Josef's abdomen clench involuntarily under his touch. "They've been training me you know. I've been a real good student, best they've ever had they reckon. They're going to let me, make you, my special project."

A cloaked, hooded figure stepped out of the shadows.

"You may call me The Torturer's Apprentice." Terrence pressed his lips to Josef's ear and whispered dark menace to him then.

"Welcome to hell."

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Roisin crouched at the top landing of the staircase, peering through the railings at the hustle and bustle that was unfolding downstairs.

Ever since word of her Uncle's disappearance had spread amongst those connected with The Order, their lounge room, and most of the kitchen area, had become Headquarters central.

Vampires of various rank, novitiates and elders alike, milled around a whirling, flashing array of computer monitors. Telephones rang, and were answered, the information hurriedly scrawled across laser boards spread around the room. Pierre Lamont stood in the middle of it all, directing the flow of traffic, and information, and trying his best to placate one very frantic, Mick St John.

"For the love of immortality, Mick, will you please try and calm down, and stop getting in the way." Pierre was rapidly losing patience with the younger Vampire.

"How the hell do you expect me to be calm?" Mick shot back, fists balled at his side, expression incredulous. "This is my husband we're talking about, the man I've been with for more than sixty five years. And you're telling me to be calm?"

"We're doing all we can, Mick." Pierre's attitude softened for a moment.

"Well it's not enough." Mick's voice had begun to reach a fever pitch note of hysteria. Pierre drew himself up to his full height, and locked gazes with him.

"I'm going to ignore that little outburst, Mick St John," Pierre chose his words carefully, delivering them in even measure, "but you are to get a hold of yourself right now. Go and get something to drink, and have a break. Leave this to us." Pierre paused for effect, and then added the words. "And that is not a request."

For a moment Mick looked as if he were about to offer some form of protest, but then he merely drew a reluctant breath, and nodded his agreement.

Roisin sat watch as her Uncle slowly made his way towards the kitchen, and then retreated back into the relative safety, and calm, of her own room.

"We really must stop meeting like this."

Terrence grinned down at Josef, once more silver strapped to a stone cold bench, in an uncommonly icy room, and ran a hand through Josef's hair. Josef would have almost thought the gesture an affectionate one, if it weren't for the dulled look of insanity behind the boys eyes.

"What, are you afraid I'll convert you?" Josef arched an eyebrow, and sneered back. "You never know, you might actually enjoy it."

Josef's defiance was met by the slash of a blade along both sides of his face. He wondered how long they were planning on making this particular session last.

Their previous meeting had lasted for hours, Josef defiantly refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream, even when the pain got so bad he would've almost accepted the hot, searing kiss of a flamethrower burning him to a cinder as a pleasurable alternative.

He had finally been dragged back to the fetid cell they were holding him in some time around dawn, and allowed to redress. Apparently his naked form offended the delicate sensibilities of the guards on duty.

Josef had managed to get a laugh out of that at least.

The way Terrence was pacing around in front of him now, fussing over an array of tools, and other equipment, laid out on a series of wooden benches, seemed to indicate an eagerness get things underway. Josef silently hoped that might just mean the boy would be just as keen to get things over and done with, with the same amount of haste. Somehow though, he knew that wish was futile.

"Surgical or Medieval?" Terrence spun round to face Josef then, holding up a choice of tools, some more modern looking than others, clutched in outstretched hands. He didn't wait for an answer. "I think we'll go with Medieval for this session, has a much classier feel to it, more traditional, don't you think?"

Josef had no doubt then, that the boy was completely insane.

And then Terrence was pressing his lips to Josef's ears like before, whispering words dripping with darkness, and despair.

"Scream all you want, because this is going to hurt…a lot."

"Uncle Mick?"

Roisin hovered in the doorway of her Uncle's bedroom, looking at her Uncle sprawled across the bed in front of her, one arm tucked behind his head, eyes locked on the ceiling above him, with a hesitant expression.

"Hey, Roisin." Mick sat up, and forced a smile, gesturing for his niece to join him. "What you got there?" Mick noticed the photograph clutched in Roisin's hand as she walked over to clamber next to him on the bed.

"A photo of you and Uncle Josef." Roisin handed the picture to her Uncle. "I found it amongst the photo albums in Mum's cupboard. I've never seen it before, where was it taken?"

"Verona," Mick ran a finger over the image held in his hand, "twenty years after we'd first gotten together. Your Uncle Josef wanted me to see the first city he'd ever lived in as a Vampire. We'd always planned to go, just didn't get round to it until then."

"Verona, that's Romeo and Juliet's city isn't it?" Roisin raised a pointed eyebrow, and drew the corners of her mouth upwards in a smile that was just shy of verging on a grin. "Did you get pretend you were star crossed lovers, and reenact the famous balcony scene?"

Almost in spite of himself, Mick laughed. "Can you see your Uncle Josef ever agreeing to something like that?"

"I guess not." Roisin pressed a hand to her mouth and stifled a laugh of her own. "Uncle Josef looks kind of annoyed in that picture." Roisin gestured towards the photo then. "Did you have a fight while you were there?"

"Not really, well, yeah, sort of." Mick sounded reluctant for a moment, before continuing on. "We ran into some trouble from a group of local Vampires at one of the bars. I managed to say something out of turn, and before we knew it we were in the middle of an all in brawl, and I stepped in the way at the wrong time, and ended up on the receiving end of a stake. Your Uncle Josef berated me for that almost the entire rest of the trip."

"Bet he still looked after you though." Roisin reached for her Uncle's hand, and gently withdrew the photo from his fingers, wiping away the droplets of salted tears that had fallen from Mick's eyes to splash across the surface.

"Yeah, he did." Mick managed a weak smile, and watched as his niece set the photo down on the cabinet next to the bed.

"They'll find him, Uncle Mick." Roisin shifted into her Uncle's embrace then, placing her head against his shoulder, and drawing an arm across his chest.

"I hope so." Mick stroked a hand through Roisin's cropped mess of dyed black hair, and for a moment he wondered exactly who was comforting who.

And then he decided it didn't really matter. They would just comfort each other.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You are going to find him, aren't you?" Katherine draped a leg over Pierre's thigh and nuzzled her head in the crook of his shoulder, her skin still diffused with a light sheen of sweat.

"We're doing all we can." Pierre's hands were already once more exploring soft curves, and valley peaks, a finger dipping into wetness below.

"I know you are. I don't doubt that for a moment." Katherine let out a soft whimper as Pierre's touch got a little rougher, more direct. She arched into Pierre's hand. "Josef is my Sire though, Pierre. I'm worried about him too you know."

"I know." Pierre's lips trailed a path of heated moisture along Katherine's throat, his own arousal becoming evident as he shifted position to lie alongside facing her.

Proceedings were interrupted by a sharp tap at the bedroom door.

"Sir, we've had word from one of our novitiates working undercover, in Ireland."

Pierre regarded the young foot soldier through the small crack of an opening in the doorway, and then nodded his understanding.

"Get up, get dressed." He instructed Katherine then, quickly making light work of throwing on his own clothes. "We've just had news."

"They've found him, he's alive, where is he, is he ok?" Katherine's voice raced with a myriad of questions.

"I don't know yet, that's what we're about to find out." Pierre waited for Katherine to dress, and then drew her in for a brief embrace, designed to offer both comfort, and a note of reassurance. "Just, be prepared, ok?"

"Ok." Katherine drew an unneeded breath, and nodded her understanding.

"And let's not be informing Mick of the situation just yet, not at least until we actually know what we're dealing with, agreed?" Katherine heard Pierre telling her then, hinting that the last thing they needed to be dealing with was an unprepared, and out of control, Mick St John. Should their worse fears be realised.

"Agreed."

"Well, what the hell are we standing around waiting for, you've found him, let's go."

Pierre could tell Mick wasn't going to be easily swayed from his mission.

"Mick," Pierre decided to take a firm hand in the matter, "We are going to do this properly. I will not have my men rushing into a situation blind, and risk their lives, and Josef's life, at the same time. Do you understand?"

"You have found him though, he is alive?" Mick didn't appear to be listening to a word Pierre was saying.

"Yes, he is alive– "

"– then what are we waiting for, we've got to get him out of there, now." Mick urged Pierre on with a frantic hand gesture.

"Mick," Pierre barked orders then, "When my men, and I, go in to rescue Josef it will be planned down to the wire, and it will be conducted with precision for the safety, and benefit, of everyone. I will not have anyone rushing in half cocked, and risk messing the entire operation up. Do you understand?"

Mick bit down on his bottom lips for a moment, struggling to regulate his breath, forgetting for the moment that he didn't actually need to breathe.

"He's my husband, Pierre." Mick fell back on the same plaintive argument he'd used countless times before.

"I know." Pierre placed a hand on Mick's shoulder in a gesture of placation. "And I know how much you love him, but that is all the more reason for you to stand back and just let us do our work. This is part of what we're trained for."

"Ok." Mick's nod of agreement looked reluctant, but at least he had finally relented. Pierre almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"We need to get a message to Josef." Mick heard Pierre telling him then, laying out the details of what that would encompass. "Something small, something easily hidden, and not recognisable to members of The Legion, something to let him know we are aware of his situation. Do you have anything we can use?"

"Yeah." This time Mick's nod was more certain. "Yeah, I do."

Josef heard footsteps approach, and involuntarily shrank back against the wall he was manacled to, his stomach clenching at the thought of what was to come. Still he was proud of the fact that he had not yet given them the satisfaction of hearing him scream. That much of his defiance remained stubbornly intact. Although he was beginning to get the feeling that letting go might be the only way he was going to hang on to his last remaining strands of sanity, before it all slipped away.

He looked up to see one of the guards walking towards him, glass of blood, and straw in hand. They were feeding him at least, just enough to keep him alive, not enough to actually nourish or satisfy.

He knew this guard, a youngish looking fellow of around twenty one, with a friendly enough demeanour, although he never spoke. If anyone was going to keep watch over him, Josef preferred it be him. The others could be annoying in their crassness, and unrefined cruelty.

Josef accepted the proffered drink by gratefully wrapping his lips around the tip of the straw and sipping slowly at the thick, crimson liquid.

He watched then as the guard reached for his hand, and began to roll up the left sleeve of his shirt. His first instinct was to try and pull away, but the guard held firm, easily matching Josef's strength, weakened as he was by the silver chains that held him captive.

The guard moistened an index finger with saliva, and traced two smeared brown letters in the dirt, and filth encrusted on Josef's skin.

'IB'

For a moment Josef's mind struggled to register the meaning of those letters, placed side by side as they were. The guard pressed a finger to his lips, and silently warned Josef to be quiet.

That's when the realisation came rushing in.

"IB, _Immortal Beloved_. The term he used with Mick, the one that was engraved on both of their engagement, and wedding rings, the term he had insisted form the start of their wedding ceremony some sixteen odd years ago, _Immortal Beloved._ Oh Christ, Mick knew, Mick knew he was here, Mick had found him, Mick would be sending someone to get him the hell away from this place, Mick…"

The relief was too much. In a paradox of overwhelming emotion, Josef felt the last threads of his precious held sanity slowly begin to unravel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rescue came just on dawn, two days later.

True to his word, Pierre had the rescue mission itself planned down to the most finite of details. Hours were spent in consultation with a select group of The Order's most elite soldiers; blueprints were downloaded and gone over with a fine tooth comb. And when they were done, they went over everything one more time, just to make sure. Nothing was left to chance.

Mick hadn't taken to kindly to the news that, under no circumstances, would he be joining them in Ireland. He wasn't going to be that easily swayed, despite Pierre laying all manner of logical arguments at his feet.

"He's my husband for Christ sake, he needs me." Mick had railed unabated.

Pierre had tried his best to assuage Mick, explaining to him as patiently as possible that him being so close to the situation made Mick a loose cannon in the eyes of his superiors. One that they could not afford to have going off at the wrong time. For all their sakes.

Eventually Pierre was forced to resort to outright threats of staking in order to get his message across.

They had received final word from their contact in Ireland the night prior. In a rare stroke of what seemed to be impeccable timing on the Universe's behalf, both Terrence and his Master had been called away on important business. No doubt involving more pain, and mayhem, for some other poor unsuspecting Vampire that The Legion had marked for extermination. For whatever reasons they saw fit to give, or not, as the case might be.

Pierre couldn't think about that though, his only business was rescuing Josef Kostan. That is what he would be focusing on. Those were his direct orders.

They moved out at midnight, leaving Mick and Katherine with nothing more to do than sit, and wait, and silently pray nothing went wrong.

Dimitri, the guard who had delivered the message to Josef previously, was under instruction to loosen Josef's restraints, after he had plied the others on duty with enough wine, and Chloral Hydrate to stone a small army of Elephants. That part at least would be easy enough. The guards at that time of the morning were incompetent at best. Hired more for their ability to look intimidating, and throw a halfway decent punch, than any talents in staying sober, and focused, on their jobs.

The initial part of his instructions carried off without a hitch, Dimitri moved on to the task of loosening the locks, and chains of Josef's restraints, waiting until the exact time when it was arranged for Pierre, and his men, to be in position.

Josef's eyes tracked Dimitri's form warily across the room. Dimitri knelt down, and hurriedly tried to explain what was about to happen, warning Josef to keep still, and stay silent, until Pierre and the others had arrived to escort him away from the building under the cover of their protection. Lest Josef alert a stray guard, or unexpected visitor to their presence.

His gaze still focused, and shifting cobra-like over the young man's form, Josef watched then as Dimitri took a set of keys, hung from the chain around his waist, and proceeded to unlock one manacle after another, moving from his ankles, to his wrists.

When the last key had been, and the final lock undone, Josef reared up and threw off his chains completely, and then flew at Dimitri's throat. His energy fueled by primal instincts of fight or flight, and the overwhelming urge to feed after being in contact with that much silver, for that amount of time.

By the time Pierre and his team of crack soldiers had rounded the corner to appear in Josef's cell, Josef had already drained the hapless Dimitri and left his bloodless corpse in a crumpled heap on the ground in front of him.

Josef came at his rescuers then, fangs bared, and a ferocious snarl on his lips.

"Stake him."

Pierre gave the order, and the others did not hesitate to obey. Grabbing an arm on other side, two of the Soldiers held onto Josef whilst a third plunged an already prepared stake into his heart, rendering him temporarily paralysed, and subdued, at least for the moment.

"He was one of our most promising candidates." One of the soldiers, whose name was Simon prodded Dimitri's lifeless form with the point of his shoe.

"Collateral damage, it couldn't be helped." Pierre's tone was matter of fact, a man too used to death in all its forms. "Let's go."

"Mick." Katherine's finger tapped urgently against the side of Mick's face. "Mick, wake up."

Mick had fallen into a despairing, and restless, sleep on the couch about an hour ago.

"What, what's happening?" Mick's voice sounded distant, his eyes opening slowly and then squeezing shut again as he blinked back layers of sleep.

"Pierre just phoned me, they're back in Paris, they have Josef with them," Katherine's own voice was almost childlike in its giddy, and much relieved burst of happiness, "they're on their way here right now."

Mick shot bolt upright, eyes wide, a hand scrubbed over his face. Suddenly he was very much awake.

"Mick, calm down, ok." Katherine placed a steadying hand on Mick's arm.

"Yeah, ok." Mick nodded an agreement, and took a moment to get his bearings. "Did Pierre say how he was?"

"No," Katherine's reply sounded almost apologetic, "he's instructed me to take Roisin and head to his place though, there's an escort waiting for us outside. I don't think he wants us here when Josef comes home."

"Probably just doesn't want him being too overwhelmed." Mick offered a plaintive explanation, and ignored the distinct note of displeasure that had crept into Katherine's voice, despite her unbridled enthusiasm just prior.

"Yeah, probably," Katherine forced a smile, and wiped away the threat of tears with the back of her hand, "I'm sure you're right. Besides, you should be the one to greet him; he'll probably want to see you first."

If Mick could have cried then he would have shed tears of sheer relief, and joy. As it was he didn't think he actually had anymore left in him. He had been wrung dry these past few days.

Mick reached for Katherine, and drew her into a tight embrace. Borne of shared suffering, and the need for mutual reassurance that it was all finally over, they held onto one another in that moment.

And the tears fell regardless.

"Where's Josef?"

Pierre Lamont stood on Mick's doorstep some forty minutes later, as one very frantic Mick St John looked straight past him. Barely registering Pierre's presence, Mick's eyes scanned desperately over the area immediately behind Pierre's form standing in the frame of the doorway, searching for any sign of his husband's exact whereabouts.

"A word first please, Mick." Pierre stepped forward, and held up a placating hand.

Mick took a moment to register what Pierre had just said.

"Please, Mick." Pierre repeated his words, and took Mick by the arm. Leading Mick over to the couch, and sitting him down, Pierre tried to explain the situation to Mick as carefully as possible. Choosing words that he hoped would convey what Mick needed to understand.

"The Legion is legendary for its use of torture," Pierre told Mick slowly, pausing to see if his words were getting through, "they are true masters of their trade. Many a vampire has chosen final death even after managing to escape, out of sheer terror at being subjected to that level of torment ever again. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Pierre placed a concerned hand on Mick's shoulder, and waited for him to respond.

"Yeah, I think so." Mick's expression fell defiant. "I can take care of him."

"Of that, I have absolutely no doubt." Pierre snorted a laugh, and then looked serious again for a moment. "Just be prepared, ok. We've had to restrain him for his own safety, and the safety of others."

"Just bring him in. I'll take it from there. Whatever happens he is my husband. I will handle him."

Pierre had to admire Mick's seeming resilience. He gestured then, and spoke a quick instruction to his assistants to fetch Josef, and bring him inside.

Mick's stomach lurched at the sight of Josef's condition as they carried him through the door and placed him down carefully on the couch.

Josef's clothes were stiff with dried blood, and encrusted with filth. His skin smeared with streaks of dirt, and gore. His hair fetid, and matted, torn out in random chunks to leave patches of scalp exposed.

Mick quickly moved to kneel by Josef's side, and wrapped a hand around the stake jutting from Josef's chest. In one swift and practised move, Mick pulled the stake from Josef's heart.

His paralysis gone, Josef suddenly came alive. Without warning, and with no time for Mick to react, Josef sprang at him. Fangs bared, and eyes glowing feral, Josef rushed Mick across the other side of the room.

"Josef." Mick gripped Josef's arms, and struggled to hang on, needing to use all his strength to hold Josef away from him.

Pierre's assistants stepped forward, fresh stakes at the ready. Pierre waved them back.

"Josef." Mick repeated his name, louder this time, fingers digging into the muscles of Josef's arms until Josef finally met his gaze. "It's me, ok? You're safe."

Very gradually Mick saw a faint light of recognition begin to flicker across Josef's face. And then all the fight seemed to drain from Josef's body. His shoulders dropped, and his knees seemed to buckle under a weight of relief.

"Welcome home."

Overwhelmed with emotion, it was the only thing Mick could think of to say. As he stepped forward, and drew Josef into his arms,

…and received absolutely no response in return.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ok, now that Roisin's gone to bed," Katherine settled into Pierre's arms, and tilted her face towards his, one eyebrow arched in a pointed gesture, "cut the stiff upper lip, stoic crap and give it to me straight. How is he, really?"

Pierre hesitated for a moment, wondering exactly how blunt he should be with Katherine. No doubt she was a strong woman, even so he decided in the end to take a middle of the road approach.

"He's been through an ordeal, Katherine." Pierre couldn't let go of his protective stoicism, the one thing that allowed him to do his job without falling over the edge. "Mick's going to have his work cut out for him."

"Mick loves Josef." Katherine's tone of voice reflected a certainty of knowledge.

"I never said he didn't," Pierre's own voice shifted patient, "but he needs to be aware that he's probably going to have to be in this for the long haul."

"Well considering they've already spent more than sixty devoted years by each others side, I think that's rather a moot point, don't you?" Katherine pointed out, the barest hint of indignation falling across her face.

"A mere blip on the radar when you live forever." Pierre's words were spoken matter of fact, no challenge returned. He drew his arms tighter around Katherine's shoulders and let her sink further into his embrace. "If anyone can bring Josef through this it will be Mick. You're right, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone quite as devoted to one another as those two are. Although you'd never think it sometimes with the way they seem to delight in snipping at one another all the time."

Pierre's voice drifted towards wistful, reflecting an inherent romanticism within.

"Devoted or obsessed?" Katherine snorted a wry laugh.

"Perhaps a bit of both."

"Josef?" Mick took a step back and looked at Josef, his expression uncertain, waiting for Josef to react, to do something.

Josef didn't as much as flinch. He seemed completely oblivious to Mick's presence.

"Come on," Mick said then, taking a cautious step towards Josef and reaching for his arm, "come upstairs, and take a shower."

Josef didn't move, and then very slowly something akin to a registering of Mick's words fell over his face, and he turned and began moving towards the stairs. Not waiting to see whether Mick was behind him or not.

Upstairs Mick began helping Josef out of his soiled clothes, fingers struggling to undo fastenings caked with dirt, and bodily fluids. Josef stood passive for a moment, and then began to undress himself as Mick stepped back and stood watch.

Josef's movements seemed stiff, almost robotic, the image of an automaton. When he had finished disrobing, Mick led him into the small ensuite bathroom, and ran the shower to a comfortable temperature.

Mick manoeuvred Josef under the direct spray of the water, and began gently soaping away the layers of blood, and filth. Josef stood, still passive, eyes fixed off into the distance.

_"Where are you, are you even in there?"_ Mick ran a soaped washcloth over Josef's face, and tried to push such thoughts to the back of his mind. It would do him no good to dwell on such things just now; he'd end up driving himself crazy.

Josef's body was unmarked pristine, yet he still flinched every so often under Mick's touch. Josef's body was unmarked pristine, yet he still flinched every so often under Mick's touch. Mick moved onto trying to wash the caked in muck from Josef's hair, quickly realising it was an exercise in futility.

Mick switched off the shower, and reached for one of the bathrobes hanging behind the door. Wrapping it around Josef's shoulders, Mick took Josef back into the bedroom and sat him down on the bed. Josef still unresisting, letting Mick manoeuvre him however he wanted.

Mick took a small pair of nail scissors from the drawer of the bedside cabinet, and began cutting the sticky tangle of matted knots, and mess from Josef's hair. Mick half expected Josef to begin sniping at him, to snatch the scissors out of his hand, and tell him he wasn't doing it properly, warning him, "you'd better not be back there making me look like Kojack, St John,'' in a tone of righteous indignation

Josef said nothing.

"It'll grow back." Mick ran an apologetic hand over the top of Josef's skull when he was done. "I'll try and even it up for you then."

With his hair now close cropped, Josef's features took on an even more impish appearance. Mick forced a reassuring smile, and leaned in to place a brief kiss on Josef's lips.

"Still handsome enough." Mick stepped back, and pretended to arch a teasing eyebrow, hoping to elicit some sort of response from Josef. A smile, the hint of a laugh. He got nothing.

Mick helped Josef to lie down then, joining him on the bed and spooning their bodies together. He reached a hand across Josef's chest, and felt his heart beat. Josef's pulse was weak and thready, his heart rate barely detectable under Mick's fingers.

"You need to feed; I'll go get you some blood. I won't be long."

Mick shifted away, and Josef spoke the first word he had said since arriving home.

"Stay."

"Josef, your heart's barely beating, I need to…"

"Stay." Josef repeated his quiet plea.

"Ok." Mick settled back alongside Josef and drew an arm across his chest once more. "I'm not going anywhere."


	10. Chapter 10

"Mick, for God sake, are you getting any sleep at all?"

Katherine stared at the image of Mick, standing pale and haggard in the open doorway, her brow furrowed in concern.

"I'm fine." Mick accepted the bottle of blood from Katherine's proffered hand. Forcing a smile he tried to brush Katherine's concerns aside with the quick wave of a hand.

"Yeah, it really looks like it." Katherine's tone was joined by the pointed raise of an eyebrow. And then she softened, and placed a worried hand on Mick's arm. "How is he?"

"We actually managed to have an entire conversation yesterday afternoon." Mick was forcing himself to sound far more confident than what he actually felt.

"Well that's something at…"

"…last night was a bit rough; I think he might have broken my nose." Mick hurried on, and then saw the questioning look on Katherine's face. "He lashed out in his sleep; he does that sometimes, managed to crack three ribs the night before last."

Mick's attempts at a wry laugh came out sounding more like a half choked cry.

"Well it has only been a week." Katherine kept her manner patient, trying to soothe Mick's not so well hidden anxiety level. "And yes, he did break your nose. It's a little crooked," Katherine offered by way of explanation, "you want me to straighten it for you?"

"Yeah, sure." Mick shrugged, and then drew in a sharp wince of breath when Katherine reached out a hand and wrenched his nose back into proper alignment, snapping fast healing bones and cartilage in the process.

"Thanks, I think."

"Instant Rhinoplasty," Katherine grinned, "just add Vampire." For her efforts, Katherine got the most genuine laugh she had heard Mick give since Josef's arrival home.

Katherine took her leave then, imploring Mick to please try and get some sleep, and telling him she would be up later to see how things were.

She returned exactly one hour later, carrying a fresh bottle of a blood, and a small glass vial in her hand.

"What's this?" Mick accepted Katherine's offerings with a scrunched brow look of puzzlement.

"Something to help Josef sleep," Katherine pointed to the Nembutal in Mick's hand, "so that you can get some sleep yourself."

"You want me to drug him?" Mick's voice raised an octave. His expression fell incredulous.

"No, I want you to get some sleep so that you don't end up collapsing in a heap and not being able to take care of him." Katherine placed a hand over Mick's. "He needs you, Mick, and he needs you to take care of yourself."

Mick couldn't argue with Katherine's wisdom. He nodded a quietly reluctant agreement, and turned to go.

Half an hour later he was downstairs, jacket and cap in hand, a pair of sunglasses already perched on the bridge of his nose.

"And just where in the hell do you think you're going?" Katherine stood in front of Mick, hands on hips and head cocked.

"Just out for a while..."

"Mick…"

"…I'll get some sleep later, I promise."

"Why don't I believe you?" Katherine regarded Mick suspiciously.

"Katherine, please," Mick moved to try and reassure Katherine then. "I promise you I will try and get some sleep, I will give Josef another dose of that stuff, and then I'll crawl into the Freezer next to him and do nothing but sleep for the next twenty four hours. But right now, I just need to go out for a while. I've been cooped up in that room for the last week; I need to get some fresh air, clear my head…"

"…Ok. You don't need to explain any further, Mick." Katherine gestured kindly. "I understand. Just make sure you've got your key, I have to go run some errands so I might not be here when you get back."

"I will, and thanks."

Forty minutes later Mick sat opposite Pierre Lamont at his private office located within the Tour Mountparnasse.

"I need to know what happened to him, Pierre. All of it."

Pierre sat considering Mick's words for a moment, and then walked over to a large, cabinet standing against the far side wall. Taking a small key from one of the drawers, he unlocked one of the secret panels contained within its structure, and drew out a heavy tome wrapped in black cloth.

"The Legion's complete handbook for use by Master Torturer's, and those who serve an apprenticeship under them." Pierre handed the book to Mick. "Everything you need to know is within these pages."

Mick thanked Pierre, grateful for his understanding, and returned home. Settling in on the couch, a fresh poured glass of blood in hand, he opened the book to the first page, and began to read.

Katherine returned home from her run of errands an hour later, to find Mick looking pale and shaken, dry retching into the Kitchen sink. It was then that she noticed the book dropped haphazardly on the table next to her.

She picked it up, and turned to a page at random.

_…Other methods of torture via medical experiments, as conducted by Unit 731, include the freezing and rapid de-thawing of extremities through the alternate application of ice and boiling water. In this way we may achieve a complete de-gloving of the flesh down to the skeletal structure. Further details for the application of this torture when used in regards to Vampires can be found on…_

Katherine snapped the book shut, and took a moment to fight back her own rising sense of horror, before placing it back down on the table, and pushing it away from herself with a note of disgust.

"Doing a bit of light reading I see." There was no malice or reproach in Katherine's words. She shifted to stand alongside Mick, one hand drawing soothing circles over the small of Mick's back. "Now why do you want to go reading such horrid things?"

"I just thought," Mick struggled against another wave of nausea threatening to overtake him, "I thought if I knew more of what Josef went through, I could help him better." Mick stood up to face Katherine then. "Katherine, he's almost five hundred years old," Mick gestured an imploring hand, "you don't think he hasn't experienced pain that would break most humans in that time? And yet look at him now; you've seen what he's like, the condition he's in. What the hell did they do to him?"

"They tortured him, Mick," Katherine's words were spoken direct, a matter of fact statement of antidote against Mick's sudden outburst of fury, "we know that much. How on earth is torturing yourself emotionally over every last detail going to help exactly?"

Mick scrubbed a frustrated hand over his face. He didn't have an answer for Katherine.

"It's not," Mick drew a reluctant breath, and admitted finally, "You're right, I know."

Katherine reached for Mick then, drawing him into an embrace.

"I don't know if I can do this." Mick rested his chin on Katherine's shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Do you have a choice?" Katherine's hand stroked the back of Mick's head in a comforting gesture.

"No." Mick's reply was absolute in its certainty.

Katherine tightened her hold.

"Well then one way or another, you'll get through it. Just take it one step at a time."

-----------------------------------------------

A week stretched into two, then three, then four.

"You going out somewhere?" Katherine greeted Mick at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, for a bit, I'm closing the office today, just gotta tie up a few loose ends."

"Oh, Mick, I really am sorry." Katherine moved to offer her condolences.

"It doesn't matter, couldn't be helped." Mick smiled, and trailed a dismissive hand through the air. "I've got more important things to worry about."

"How has he been?" Katherine's voice was filled with gentle concern.

"Better." Mick nodded, and tried to sound positive. "We're getting there, slowly."

"That's good, I'm…"

"…Are you going out?"

Mick turned to find Josef standing behind him, expression searching.

"Just for a little while, ok." Mick took Josef's hand in his, and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. "I need to finish some stuff at the office, remember, what we spoke about the other night? I won't be long, I promise."

"Mick, you don't have to do this, not for me." Josef's expression fell sorrowful, filled with unspoken regret for the impossible situation Mick found himself in.

"I know." Mick stroked the side of Josef's face with a reassuring hand. "I want to though."

Mick hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to speak the next words already formed on his lips. And then he decided, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'.

"You can come with me, if you're feeling up to it?"

Mick stood nervously, waiting with bated breath for Josef to respond. When he did, Josef's response was quiet, but not so quiet that Mick couldn't hear it.

"Ok."

"Great." It would be the first time Josef had left the house since returning home. Mick had to force himself not to make too big a deal of things. He didn't want to overwhelm Josef by a display of over eagerness. "Grab your stuff, and let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know I remember the day you first opened this place." Josef ran a finger over the graphite top of Mick's office desk. "Damn, I was proud of you then, you even learnt to speak some halfway passable French to make doing business easier."

Josef seemed saddened by the recollection of those memories.

"It'll be like that again, Josef." Mick shifted into Josef's space, and drew his arms around Josef's shoulders. "I promise."

"I just…I really wish you didn't feel like you had to do this, Mick. Not on my account." Josef allowed himself to be drawn into an embrace.

"I know." Mick ran a hand over Josef's skull, noting how differently textured his hair felt under his fingers now, almost softer. "None of this is your fault."

"Mick?"

"What?"

"You know I love you, don't you?"

"I know." Mick stepped back, and held Josef at arms length. "And you know the feeling's mutual. Look, how many times over the years have you been there for me, and helped my sorry ass when I needed it? Now it's my turn to return the favour, ok?"

Josef forced a weak smile, and nodded his agreement.

"Ok."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back home, Mick lay alongside Josef on their bed upstairs, a concerned, tender hand caressing the planes of Josef's face. They had been talking, nothing serious, just trivial matters. Halfway through Josef had once more drifted off into his own locked down world.

"Where are you when you're like this?" Mick wondered out loud, and then leaned in to press his lips to Josef's forehead. "I miss you sometimes, baby."

Josef's eyes suddenly snapped back into focus.

"I'm not your 'baby', Mick. I'm not anybody's 'baby'. Don't call me that."

Mick couldn't be certain if he had seen it or not, it was so subtle, just a fleeting glimpse. But no, no it had definitely been there, brief as it was, a glimpse of the old Josef. Righteous quipped indignation and all.

Mick decided to try and push the issue further.

"I'll call you plum blossom if it means you'll stay and talk to me."

"Don't push your luck, Mick."

There it was again, that tiniest glimmer of the old Josef coming through, small and faint, but it was there.

"Why not?" Mick shifted closer. "Plum blossom."

"Mick, I'm warning you, shut up."

Before Mick knew it they were kissing, lips and bodies pressed together, hands seeking heated contact with planes and angles of clothed flesh. And it looked as if neither one of them had any intention of stopping.

Fingers fumbled with buttons, and zippers, clothes were shed; contact was briefly lost as they removed the remainder of their outer layers, and then found again in another heated clash of mouths and flesh.

And then Mick made the mistake of slipping a hand in between the cheeks of Josef's arse, tracing a finger over his hole, as if he were thinking of penetrating that space.

The sensation triggered something in Josef, something primal, fueled by a memory response of fear and pain.

"Mick. Get out." Josef was on his hands and knees then, eyes wild, taking frantic gulps of unneeded breath.

Mick knew he had about two seconds to run.

Katherine come upstairs to find Mick crouched naked against the wall next to the bedroom door, head in hands, flinching at every blow that shook the walls as Josef tore the room apart.

"Mick…" Katherine tried to approach.

"…Katherine." Mick looked up at Katherine, his expression desperate. "Take Roisin, and get her out of here, now."

"…Mick I don't want to-"

"-Now, Katherine." Mick shouted the words, urging Katherine to leave as fast as she could.

"Ok," Katherine saw the abject terror in Mick's eyes, and relented. "I'm going, right now, I'm going."

It seemed as if an eternity went by before things finally settled down. Mick opened the door of the bedroom and entered cautiously to find Josef huddled amidst a sea of chaos. The destruction in the room was almost total.

"Come on." Mick stood by Josef, and his hand. "Let's go get some rest."

Mick didn't know what else to say, or do at that point.

Josef accepted Mick's proffered hand, and let Mick lead him, unresisting, towards the Freezer.

"I've never lost control of the Vampire like that before, Mick." The quiver in Josef's voice reflected the sense of fear that pervaded the room.

"I know you haven't." Mick lay beside Josef, gaze fixed unwaveringly on the ceiling above, through the plexi-glass lid of the Freezer.

"Mick, If I…"

"Don't say it, Josef. Please, I don't want to hear it."

Mick knew what was on Josef's mind. An almost five centuries old Vampire gone rogue was a danger to all of them, one that would have to be dealt with.

"If the time does come," Mick could tell Josef was trying to choose his words carefully, desperate not to alarm Mick too much. "Will you be there for me?"

"I'll be standing right alongside you, Josef." Mick's response came without hesitation.

"Now who's the one with ridiculous notions of throwing themselves on top of funeral pyres, Mick?" Josef forced a weak laugh, and then moved into Mick's arms.

They lay there together in the cold blue light of the freezer then, trying to draw whatever strength they could from each other's presence.

It felt like the start of a long, dark night ahead.

--------------------------------------------

"Mum?"

Katherine looked up from her glass of blood, and morning paper, to find Roisin standing in front of her, brow furrowed in a mark of question.

"What sweetheart?"

"What does it mean when a Vampire turns rogue?"

Katherine looked momentarily taken aback by the unexpected question.

"Why do you ask?" Katherine regarded her daughters questioning expression with concern.

"I overheard Uncle Mick and Uncle Josef talking about the other day." Roisin chewed on her bottom lip. "Uncle Mick sounded scared."

"Uncle Mick's fine darling." Katherine tried to ease her daughter's fear. "He's just worried about your Uncle Josef."

"I know." Roisin's voice was low, eyes averted. And then she locked gazes with her mother, and repeated her question. "So what does it mean when a Vampire turns rogue?"

Katherine drew an unneeded breath, giving herself time to consider how she was going to answer her daughter.

"It means they've lost the ability to control their inner Vampire." Katherine decided to keep her answer simple, and to the point.

"What happens to them? Do they have to go away somewhere?"

Katherine knew what her daughter was asking, Roisin unable, or unwilling, to give voice to her real concern.

"In a manner of speaking." The meaning behind Katherine's evasive response was clear.

"Who was Beth?" Roisin asked her Mother then.

"A friend of your Uncle Mick's." Katherine wondered how much of the story of Beth, Roisin actually knew.

"A girlfriend?"

"Yes, a girlfriend," Katherine nodded, "from before your Uncle Mick and Uncle Josef were together."

"It's weird to imagine Uncle Mick with a girl." Roisin waved a quick hand in the air. "Oh I know. Uncle Mick's not gay. It's just that…he's been with Uncle Josef for so long and…"

Roisin was babbling, stalling for time, wanting to delay the inevitable question formed in her mind. When she did finally ask, Katherine couldn't help but notice how childlike her daughter sounded, a testament to how young she still was. Even at the ripe old age of sixteen.

"Beth died, didn't she? Did she turn rogue, is that why she died?"

"Yes." Katherine didn't know what else to say.

Roisin seemed to consider this for a moment. "Is that what will happen to Uncle Josef if he becomes like Beth as well?"

Roisin looked as if she almost didn't want to hear the answer to her question.

"I don't know, I hope not."

Roisin knew her mother was lying; the evidence was there in her expression, and tone of voice. Roisin forced a smile, and nodded an uncertain agreement.

"Yeah, me too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````````

"I want to hunt tonight."

Josef appeared at the bottom of the stairs, face a corpselike pallor, and eyes ice cold blue, glistening mad.

Josef's tone did not bode well. Mick shifted towards him, looking for a way to distract Josef from his intentions.

"Do you want me to order in some freshies?"

"No." Josef would not be deterred. "I want you to come on a hunt with me."

Mick wasn't sure what frightened him more, the fact that Josef had suggested they hunt together in the first place, or the coolly detached manner in which he'd voiced that suggestion. He seemed devoid of all emotion.

"Ok." Mick nodded a reluctant agreement, trying to justify to himself that they could always pick a deserving victim. Perhaps some low level street thug already marked for death by those they had double crossed. "If you want to hunt, we'll hunt."

Josef responded with a grin that turned Mick's veins to ice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```````

They were out on the night lit streets of Paris an hour later, Mick trying his best to hide his growing sense of disquiet, when Josef spotted his intended quarry. A girl child about five years of age, all blonde haired, and blue eyed innocence personified. Apparently lost, wandered away from those who would otherwise be taking care of her.

"Josef, no." Mick's disquiet turned to full blown panic. He grabbed Josef's arm. "We don't hunt children. We don't hunt innocents, you know that."

The child rounded a corner in front of them. Josef shook Mick off with a determined growl and followed after her.

Mick stood frozen to the spot. Unable, or unwilling to move, not wanting to watch as Josef crossed over the line of redemption.

_Christ what was he thinking? He had to stop him._

Shaking off his fear, Mick took off after Josef. Just in time to see Josef walking towards him, child in arms.

"You know you really shouldn't be out here all by yourself, little one." Josef smiled at the small bundle of mortality he had hold of. "You never know who you'll run into."

The little girl giggled with childish delight, tiny fingers prodding and squeezing Josef's face as Josef proceeded to play a game of what could only be described as 'peek-a-vamp' with her, morphing seamlessly from Vampire to human and back again.

Mick was on tenterhooks watching the exchange. He couldn't be sure if Josef had changed his mind, or if this was his way of making the kill as perverted as possible. By gaining the child's trust and making the destruction of innocence all the more complete.

"You want me to take her?" Mick forced a smile, trying not to let his voice shake too noticeably.

"I've got her, Mick." Josef furrowed his brow in an expression of barely disguised annoyance, and turned the child away from Mick's reach.

They weaved their way through streets and alleyways, an unlikely trio. Mick followed close by, one hand at the ready, prepared to snatch the child from Josef's arms and run if it came down to it. He just hoped he could out run Josef if need be.

The child led them to a frantic looking woman, tearfully recanting a description of her missing daughter to an overworked looking police officer.

"Oh my god, where did you find her." The relief on the woman's face was palpable as Josef handed the child over to her. "I've been beside myself. One minute we were enjoying a family dinner together, and the next she was gone. I only turned my back on her for a second."

The woman spoke French with a strange accent. Josef surmised her to be a tourist, and responded to her in English.

"Well sometimes that's all it takes."

Mick stood nervous watch as Josef and the woman exchanged pleasantries, and Josef very politely gave the Police officer the necessary details for him to file his report.

And then Josef was taking Mick by the arm, and leading him away.

They rounded a corner into an alley, and Josef stopped Mick in his tracks, turning towards him with his hands raised in a placating gesture.

"Mick, I'm sorry I had to…"

"You…Son of a Bitch!"

Josef had been about to explain that he needed to test himself, to see if he would cross that line, the one that would indicate he was too far gone. His words were cut off by Mick's fist connecting with his jaw, knocking him flying clear across the alleyway.

It was only then that realisation dawned on Mick. Josef was back, wherever he'd been for the past few months, the little glimpses of his old self that Mick had kept close watch for, all of that had just evaporated in the blink of an eye.

"Josef?" Mick rushed over to Josef's side, and helped him to his feet. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, Dorothy." Josef cocked his head, and grinned. "It's Toto."

"Oh shut up, Josef." Mick laughed, and threw his arms around Josef's neck. Too overjoyed to notice that Josef hadn't chided him for the punch he had just landed.

"Well what sort of a stupid thing was that to say, Mick?" Josef returned Mick's embrace.

Mick found himself being swept down a small laneway then, off-shooting the alley they had just been standing in. Out of the way of prying eyes, bodies and mouths came together in a heated exchange of contact.

"God I've missed you." Mick matched Josef's vigour with his own.

"Yeah, well, I've sort of been away for a while, needed the break." Josef managed through fervent kisses. "Thought it was about time I returned though. I was beginning to worry people would mistake me for you. And I'm so much better looking."

Josef tried to brush Mick's words aside with a trademark quip. Nevertheless Mick could still hear the underlying tone in Josef's voice. The past weeks and months had been spent in darkness, for both of them, Mick got the feeling Josef's return was by sheer force of will alone. He'd quite simply decided to pull himself up by the bootstraps, and climb out of whatever pit of despair he had found himself trapped in.

Whatever the reason, Mick wasn't going to question it. He had Josef back, for now at least, that's all that mattered.

Hands fumbled with belt buckles, fingers worked urgently at buttons on pants. And then Mick found himself being pressed down onto his hands, and knees, kneeling amidst the asphalt and grime of the street beneath him. As Josef slicked himself with a hurried application of saliva and took him from behind.

Josef's fangs gripped the back of Mick's neck, his growls of pleasure reverberating, deep and guttural, throughout Mick's body. It was sordid, and desperate, and it was exactly what they both wanted.

Josef stepped up the pace, reaching a hand underneath Mick's body to stroke his cock, matching sync with the increasingly urgent rhythm of his thrusts. Moments later Mick felt Josef's fangs sinking deeper into his flesh, and then Josef was coming inside him, filling him with a series of hot, wet pulses as he continued to work his hand over Mick's length, pulling Mick over the edge with him, and offered the other for Mick to bite into.

"Oh fuck I needed that..."

Mick's words, formed on his lips, were cut off by Josef already moving inside him once again. The pace harder this time, assisted by Josef's own fluids, friction and wetness creating delicious heat.

"Oh, Jesus, Fuck." Mick gritted his teeth, and moaned under his breath. His vocalisations of pleasure quickly turning to inhuman growls as Josef slammed into him at an increasingly frantic pace, and sent the both of them spiraling into their second, fangs biting into flesh, snarling conclusion.

Josef let Mick go when they were both finished, grinning as he watched Mick scrabble away a short distance. Before he grabbed Mick's leg, and pulled Mick back towards him.

"Christ, Josef." Mick felt the need to protest at that point. "Don't you think we should maybe go to a hotel, or head home, or something? We've already pushed our luck with someone spotting us out here."

Josef wasn't listening. He was already stripping Mick out of his lower garments entirely and hooking Mick's legs over his shoulders as he flipped Mick over onto his back and entered him with one hard, and sudden thrust.

Mick clung to Josef's shoulders, and drew fine lines of blood with his nails. It was all he could do to hang on as Josef placed a hand underneath Mick's arse, raising his hips up more, and started pounding into him with abandon.

And then they were both sailing into the abyss for a third time, sinking fangs into flesh as they each roared their way through the respective waves of climax that tore through them.

"Ok," Josef raised himself up onto outstretched arms when they were both spent, looking down at Mick with a grin plastered over his features, "now we can go to a hotel."

For a moment Mick was tempted to ask Josef if he was sure, but then decided the better of it. He had the distinct feeling that would be too much like pulling the tiger's tail.

Josef withdrew himself from Mick's passage, and waited for Mick to redress, adjusting his own clothing back to a more respectable state at the same time, before getting to his feet and reaching for Mick's hand to pull Mick up alongside him.

"Mick, wait." Josef stopped him, just as Mick began to move off. "I just wanted to say thank you," Josef drew his arms around Mick's waist, and wrapped Mick up in an embrace that was as sincere in depth, as it was in its intended affections, "for everything you've done these past months, you gave up a lot for me. You know I really didn't think I could ever be any more in love with you than what I already was, but I've been proven wrong."

"Yeah, well, you would have done the same if the roles were reversed." Mick sounded sheepishly overwhelmed by Josef's lavishing of praise.

"Come on." Josef said then as he began to lead Mick down the street, noting Mick's embarrassment, and deciding to make a joke to ease the situation. "The Meurice is just nearby, we'll head there. My cock's got an extended date planned with your ass."

--------------------------------------------------

_"What the...?"_

Mick awoke the following afternoon to find the hotel bed sheets saturated with water. The result of several bags of ice they had packed around themselves the night before, bursting open, and leaking defrosted contents all over previously dry bed linen.

Mick kicked the offending objects away from himself. It was then that he noticed Josef standing by the window of the hotel room, his expression clouded, seeming to look beyond the limits of the city below, into a realm Mick wasn't privy to.

"Josef?" Mick's voice bore a distinct note of fear. He rushed over to Josef's side, convinced for a moment that Josef's seeming return, only the night prior, had been all but a cruel trick of the universe.

"I'm fine, Mick. Don't look so worried."

The smile on Josef's face appeared to be forced. Everything about his manner appeared to be forced to Mick. As if he were still struggling against a dark undercurrent, and keeping himself afloat through sheer willpower alone.

"Josef," Mick drew his arms around Josef's waist, and rested his head on top of Josef's shoulder; "you don't have to pretend to be ok for my sake. I know what they did to you. Pierre gave me one of their handbooks on torture. It damn near made me sick." Mick paused for a moment, swallowing back the bile that had risen in his throat at the memory of what he had read in those pages. "You don't have to force yourself to pretend everything's ok, not for anyone, and certainly not for me."

"I know, Mick." Josef smiled, a genuine smile this time, and leant back into Mick's embrace, drawing strength, and comfort.

Josef didn't need to say anything more. Mick understood then. The unspoken words hung in the air between them.  
_  
__"I'm not doing this for you, Mick. I'm doing it for myself. If I don't force myself back from the depths now, I might not have the strength to come back at all." _

For a moment Mick could do nothing more than close his eyes, and allow himself to be swept along by overwhelming tides of emotion. Even saying the words 'I love you' somehow seemed inadequate.

"Hey, you're not getting all ridiculously sentimental on me there are you?" Josef's voice, brimming with trademark tones of pointed cheek, broke through Mick's private reverie.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Mick laughed, and placed an affectionate kiss on the side of Josef's face.

"Oh, why not?" Josef pretended to sound crestfallen. "I like it when you get all ridiculously over sentimental. You always could turn dog shit into puppies you know." Josef snorted a laugh, and turned his face towards Mick's, one eyebrow cocked in a teasing expression. "That is of course when you weren't too busy angsting about the mess they'd left on the rug."

"Well what can I say," Mick's voice swelled with mock pride, "It's a gift."

"What? Turning dog shit into puppies, or angsting about messes on carpets?" Josef grinned, and arched another pointed eyebrow.

"Both." Mick shot back with a barely stifled laugh.

Josef turned to face Mick then, one hand gripping the back of Mick's skull, drawing him close.

"Care to show me what other gifts you have?" Josef's breath fanned hot against Mick's neck.

"Only the ones you've given to me." Mick trailed a series of heated kisses along the line of Josef's jaw, and then sank to his knees.

Mick's hands went to the belt on Josef's robe, undoing it to reveal Josef's naked form beneath. Josef shrugged the robe from his shoulders, and let it slide to the floor in a crumpled heap.

And then Josef was drawing in a sharp breath, fangs biting into his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood as Mick took him into his mouth, and began working his lips and tongue over the length of Josef's erection.

_It was good. Oh fuck it was so good…_

It was a little too good. Within moments Josef was already feeling his balls tighten, threatening to spill over.

"Mick." Josef tapped a pointed finger against the side of Mick's face. "Mick, stop, I'm way too close, I don't want to…"

"…so?" Mick halted his attentions and looked up at Josef, his hand still gripping the shaft of Josef's cock. "What's stopping you from coming twice?"

Without warning Mick covered Josef's length with his mouth, and drew him deep into his throat. Two fingers pressed firmly up against Josef's perineum.

"I…Oh Christ, Fuck." Josef's grabbed onto Mick's skull, more to keep from toppling over as the orgasm ripped through him, hard enough to leave weak kneed tremors in its wake, and he exploded down the back of Mick's throat.

"Shit, that was…" Josef didn't have a chance to finish his clench teethed appreciation of Mick's talents. Mick was already on his feet, body seeking contact, his lips pressed against Josef's in a fervent exchange of kisses as he began to manoeuvre the both of them over to the bed.

They fell amidst the sheets in a tangled mess of mouths and limbs. Mick's vocalisations becoming more urgent as his arousal quickly built. Deep growls emanated from his chest to reverberate throughout Josef's body.

"Wait." Mick had been about to swap their positions, placing his own body beneath Josef's, when Josef placed a hand in the centre of Mick's chest and stayed him for a moment. "I want you, to fuck me."

Mick raised himself up onto outstretched arms, his eyes searching the expression on Josef's face, looking for any hint of uncertainty.

"Are you sure?" The memory of Josef's previous reactions, when confronted with the possibility of such activity, still lingered in the back of Mick's mind.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Josef's arms went around Mick's neck, drawing Mick into his space. And then his lips were pressed against Mick's ear, and he was exhaling a heated command, breath fanning hot over Mick's face.

"Fuck me."

Mick felt his cock spasm in anticipation at those words, Josef's tone so inviting. His hand scrabbled inside the top drawer of the small bedside cabinet, seeking the bottle of make shift lubricant they had procured from the bathroom the night before.

Josef shifted onto his side, Mick positioned behind him. One leg hooked over Mick's hip, giving Mick access. Mick pressed his cock, now slick with lotion, against Josef's passage and began to penetrate him, slowly, letting the shifts in Josef's breathing, and body language guide his pace.

At one point Josef drew in a sharp hiss of breath, his eyes flashing to momentary, fleeting panic. Mick had gone to withdraw then, prepared to forget the whole idea and insist that he be the one on the receiving end instead.

"Don't." Josef reached a hand behind Mick, grabbing hold of Mick's arse, stilling Mick inside him. "Stay with me."

Mick nodded his understanding, and drew an arm across Josef's chest, holding him close as Josef began to move his hips back and forth, thrusting himself over Mick's cock, building the pace in a subtle exchange of motion.

"I love you." Josef snaked his own arm behind Mick's neck, and pressed Mick's face forward to meet his lips. "Don't ever forget that. None of what happened was your fault, Mick."

"I know." Mick buried his face against the side of Josef's neck. "I just…I should have been there, I should have protected you."

"Why?" Josef arched his back and uttered a stifled cry of approval as Mick's hand encircled his cock, and began to stroke. "You're not my keeper."

The conversation ended with a single command uttered from Josef's lips.

"Harder."

Mick complied with Josef's instruction. Silence permeating the room, save only for the sound of ragged breath hitching in throats, and soft whimper moans of pleasure cascading into urgent growls.

"Oh Jesus, yes, that's it, that's it, Fuck me…" Josef urged Mick on, his vocalisations shifting to an almost rhythmic chant of pleasure, eyes squeezed shut and mouth hung open.

The pace became increasingly erratic, Mick's hand a blur of motion over Josef's length, the tension building inexorably, leaving both of them desperate for release.

And then…_'Oh Christ, fuck, don't stop, don't stop, don't stop'_…they were both exploding in a simultaneous fever pitch of heated passion. Fluid pulsating into, and over one another, they sank sharp fangs into soft flesh and rode out wave after wave of climactic bliss.

They lay together in silence after they were both spent, feeling the last pulsations of orgasm slowly fade away to be replaced by a series of after shocks that hummed through them. Until Mick finally gave voice to the one question he had been longing to ask since the nightmare had first begun.

"Who was it, Josef, who did this to us?"

"Remember when you said you hoped we wouldn't end up regretting something?"

Josef didn't need to say anymore, Mick knew instantly who he was referring to.

"Shit." Mick took a moment to collect his thoughts; not having been prepared for Josef's answer. "Does Roisin know?"

"No. And she's not going to either." Josef's tone was final.

"Agreed." Mick nodded his affirmation, and then changed the subject. "Look, I meant what I said before. You don't have to pretend everything's ok. If you need more time…we'll go away somewhere, take a holiday, get drunk in wayward freshie bars, and stagger back to whatever hotel we're staying in at four in the morning…"

"…What? Clutching rosebushes in our hands, and showering the floor with dirt and petals?"

"Something like that." Mick snorted a laugh, and then withdrew himself from Josef' space, and waited for Josef to turn facing him. "I mean it though, Josef," Mick's voice fell serious then, a finger tracing its way across the contours of Josef's brow, "whatever you need, ok?"

"Whatever I need?" Josef repeated back, one eyebrow arched in a pointed gesture, and a grin playing over his features. "Right now," hands reached up to grip Mick's skull then, drawing him close, "All I need is you…and for us to go to Ireland so I can finish my obligations to Father Patrick, but mostly, just you."

Mick didn't have a chance to respond to Josef's casual announcement of their intended travel plans to the country of his birth. Josef's lips were covering his own, his words silenced by Josef's tongue exploring the inside of his mouth.

And they were both moving back towards the abyss, hands clutching, and bodies shifting together once more.


	11. Chapter 11

**Specific Chapter Warning: **May contain some mildly disturbing imagery. Non explicit description of Torture. Brief mention of a non consensual sex act.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

True to Josef's word, three days later Mick found himself curled up next to Josef on their private Jet, as they winged their way to the land of Josef's birth.

"Mick?" Josef stroked the back of an index finger across Mick's cheek. "Mick, come on, wake up."

"Huh, what?" Mick stirred beside Josef, and stretched, bleary eyed.

"The plane's about to land."

Mick blinked back layers of brief sleep, and sat upright.

"You know," Mick reached for the belt on his chair and pulled it across his lap, "I really don't know why we bother with seatbelts on planes, it's not like we're exactly going to die if we crash, unless the plane explodes, or we're decapitated by flying debris. And a seatbelt isn't much use to us then anyway."

"Because I'd rather not see you thrown out of your seat, and getting your head split open, or worse, if we go through turbulence, Mick, regardless of whether you heal fast, or not." There was a calm, matter of fact-ness about Josef's tone of voice. "Now, do your seatbelt up properly."

"Yes, Dad." Mick shot Josef a quick, arched brow grin, and begrudgingly did as he was told.

Mick looked at Josef for a moment then, considering the expression on Josef's face. There had been a steadily increasing change in Josef's demeanour. He seemed…Mick couldn't quite put his finger on it exactly. It almost seemed as if, despite the lack of outer trappings, Josef appeared more, and more like a Priest the closer they got to Ireland. Not just acting the part, but becoming a role he had taken on.

For the first time since forever, the thought of Josef dressed in his Vestments did not result in an immediate rush of blood to Mick's groin.

"Are you ok?" It was Josef asking Mick that question.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Mick turned his head, brow furrowed. "I should be the one asking you that."

Mick stroked a thumb over the back of Josef's hand held in his.

"I'm fine." Josef brushed Mick aside with a forced smile, and pulled his hand away.

"Be like that then." Mick muttered the words under his breath, and let out a barely disguised huff of annoyance.

"Be like what?" Josef tried to lighten his tone, a teasing edge creeping into his voice. Mick turned his body to face at angle, away from Josef. "Mick," Josef leant across, words whispered dark and pointed into Mick's ear, tips of fingers digging into Mick's forearm, "I don't need you in one of your moods right now, ok?"

Mick shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, and then turned back to face Josef, expression fallen sheepishly contrite.

"Sorry."

Josef gave a quick nod of acceptance, and relaxed his hold on Mick's arm. Mick stole a quick glance, checking the expression on Josef's face once more. He had expected more sarcasm than what Josef had given him, a devastating one liner followed by a cheeky grin.

Josef was far too calm; eyes fixed straight ahead, his expression detached

"I can't do this." The words came out with a panicked edge. Mick's hands went to the fastening on his seatbelt, fingers working frantically to try and undo it, body half raised from his seat.

"Sit down." Josef's voice was a low growl, nails digging into Mick's arm this time. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

Mick settled back into his seat, but didn't answer. The rest of the, thankfully short, plane ride was spent in uncomfortable silence. Mick fidgeted nervously, fingers twisting in his lap, drumming against the arm rest, quick glances stolen across at Josef every so often.

"What's wrong?" Josef repeated the question when they were both seated in the back of a taxi, making their way through the streets of Galway to the hotel Josef had booked for them to stay in.

"Nothing, I'm tired, jetlagged." Mick was a myriad of excuses.

"Bullshit." Josef drew an arm around Mick's shoulders, letting Mick settle into his embrace as he pressed his lips against the top of Mick's head, and brushed strands of hair from Mick's forehead.

"Right," chalk tipped leather cracked against bakelite as Josef bent over the pool table and took his shot, "are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nothing." Mick watched as Josef lined up to take his next shot, trying to hide the truth behind a mask of indifference.

They had arrived at the hotel an hour ago, just past midnight. Completing the check in process via a weary looking desk clerk, they had made their way upstairs to unpack, and shower away the remains of their flight.

Mick's sullen mood had steadfastly refused to let up in that time. There was something else though. To Josef he almost seemed panicked, fearful of something behind the layer of moroseness.

Josef had eventually decided to bribe the security guard on duty into letting them into the locked pool room for a little late night round of Nine Ball.

"Mick," Josef's shot went wild. He straightened up and held out the cue for Mick to take, "How long have we been together."

"Sixty seven years, why?" Mick replied, as he fluke potted two balls off the one shot.

"Then what makes you think you can lie to me," Josef leant against the table, arms folded, challenging Mick with a pointed expression, "and get away with it?"

Mick stood upright, and leant against the pool cue in his hand, half supporting his weight against its length. Eyes downcast, he took a moment to consider Josef's words.

"Maybe it was a mistake for us to come here." Mick's voice was couched in reluctant admittance. The last thing he wanted was Josef worrying about him.

"What makes you say that?" Josef softened his stance slightly, and studied Mick's face, waiting for him to respond.

"You," Mick tossed the pool cue onto the table, and leant resting both hands against the edge, "You've been acting weird ever since we got on the plane."

"Weird? In what…"

"…You're acting like you're a damn Priest." Mick cut Josef off and spat the words out in frustration.

"I am a _damn_ Priest, Mick. Or at least I was." Josef stifled a laugh, and shifted towards Mick. "What's your point?"

"You're detached, you've been detaching ever since we arrived at the airport in Paris." Mick's hand gestured in front of him, words rushing forth in a tangled stream. "You're not acting like yourself, it's like you're on some sort of worldly rejection trip. I can't watch you like that again, Josef. Not after finally getting you back. I can't just sit back and relax, and watch you slip away from me."

"Mick," Josef stood facing Mick, and drew his arms around Mick's neck. Knees resting against Mick's, he leant back and waited for Mick's gaze to meet his. "I'm not slipping away from you." Josef waited until he was sure his words had registered. "There's just something I've decided I need to do, for Father Patrick's sake. I've needed time to prepare for it, ok?"

"Oh yeah, like what?" Mick gave the distinct impression he still wasn't sure whether to accept Josef's reassurances or not.

"I'll be taking Holy Communion when I perform the Mass this time."

Mick hadn't been prepared for Josef's answer. He let out a low whistle. He might not have understood all the aspects of Josef's former life, but he knew how significant it was for him to do what he was planning.

"Wow." Mick scrubbed a hand over his eyes, unsure of what else to say, and needing the time to form a proper response. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's between me and God, Mick."

Josef's reply was spoken matter of fact, as if he expected Mick to have already understood.

"And what does God think of your plan?" Mick snorted a laugh, and drew his own arms tighter around Josef's waist.

"Well I haven't asked for his opinion, Mick." Josef arched his brow, and tilted his head to the side with a pointed look.

"Dictating to God?" Mick snorted a laugh, and shook his head, and then shot Josef a mirror image of his own expression. "That doesn't sound like you at all, Josef."

"It doesn't?" Josef pretended to look crestfallen, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment. "Damn, guess I need to work on my act." Josef shifted closer then, his cheek brushing against Mick's as he leaned further into Mick's embrace. "So, are we cool now? No more Mick Moody?"

"No, we're cool." Mick had the good sense to look sheepishly contrite, and gave the side of Josef's face a quick kiss.

"Good." Josef pressed his lips to Mick's ear and purred seduction. "Then can I take you right here, right on this pool table?"

Mick growled, and arched into Josef's touch as Josef's hand went to the zipper on his jeans, fingers pressing along cloth covered hardness. And then Josef was covering Mick's mouth with his own, those same fingers tugging at fastenings, working to release Mick from his constraints.

Josef's hand wrapped tight around Mick's exposed cock, and began to stroke. His thumb stroked over the head, eliciting another growl of approval. Josef's own erection strained against the material of his pants, pressed up against Mick's thigh.

Mick let his eyes fall shut, sharp intakes of unneeded breath being drawn from parted lips as Josef's hand continued to work its way over his length. Josef kept the pace varied, stopping, and starting, slowing down, and then speeding up. Until he had Mick teetering on a knife's edge.

Josef suddenly bought a halt to proceedings, and lifted Mick up onto the table, pushing him back on the felt covered surface as he quickly stripped Mick of his lower garments. Mick groaned in frustration at the temporary loss of contact, watching as Josef stepped back and relieved himself of his own garments.

And then Josef was on top of him, legs pressed back against his chest. Josef used one hand to lock and span Mick's wrists, raising them over Mick's head, and slicked his cock with a hurried application of saliva.

"You ok?" Josef stopped mid penetration when he saw the slight grimace that passed over Mick's face.

"Fine," Mick gave a few quick nods of reassurance, the words coming out as a series of panted syllables, "I'm fine, keep going."

Josef waited for Mick to relax, and then pressed forward until he reached the hilt.

"Tell me that you love me." Josef fanned the words hot across the skin of Mick's neck as he started a slow, steady rhythm of thrust and withdraw.

"I love you, you know I love you." Mick buried his face against Josef's shoulder, and nipped at the muscle there with his fangs, drawing droplets of blood that he chased with his tongue.

Mick's wrists still held, and arms pinned above his head with one hand, Josef reached in-between their bodies with the other, and began stroking Mick's cock in time with the pace of his thrusts.

"Oh, Jesus."

Mick gritted his teeth, head thrown back, the sinews on his neck straining as Josef shortened his strokes, and picked up the speed. Josef's hand worked over Mick's length faster and faster, his thrusts into Mick's arse becoming increasingly frenzied, and erratic.

And then they were both falling over the edge together, sharing a rare moment of simultaneous release as they snarled, and sank sharp fangs into soft flesh, and rode out the waves of orgasm washing over them.

Josef withdrew from Mick's body when they were both spent, and then leaned down again to place an appreciative kiss on Mick's lips. Mick went to sit up then, but Josef halted him.

"No, wait, stay there. I've just had an idea." Josef grabbed one of the pool cues from the floor where it had fallen, and displayed it to Mick with an arch browed grin of lasciviousness

"Christ!" Mick's eyes flashed wide, his cock hardening again instantly as Josef pressed the tip of the larger end against his hole and began to penetrate his body with smooth graphite hardness.

And Josef bent his lips to Mick's ear and chortled to him.

"Now tell me I'm acting like a Priest, Mick."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It is out of the question."

The Cardinal regarded the man, now engaged in a locked gaze stand off with him, from behind the comfort of his well appointed desk. As far as he was aware, the rest of the community knew him only as Father Luke, a visiting Parisian Priest, who was once a friend to the late Father Patrick O'Malley. A Priest who had disappeared from their enclave without a word of goodbye, called away suddenly on important business, the order coming directly from the Vatican itself. Or so they had been told.

He had to admit a kind of drawn in fascination. The man was a Vampire. Or so he had been informed by those who had come before him. Cardinal Brady wasn't entirely sure yet what to make of that. Until a few short days ago he hadn't even been aware that such creatures existed outside the fancies of a fictional world. Still, the man seated before him seemed pleasant enough, friendly even. Far friendlier than the two ruffians who had appeared on the doorstep only a day before the others had arrived, demanding to know the whereabouts of a Josef Kostan, and seemingly quiet prepared to do bodily harm to those who stood in their way, even if they wore the collar.

"I am well within Canon Law." Josef offered a polite smile as he folded his arms over his chest.

"To both offer and receive The Eucharist?" Cardinal Brady snorted a disbelieving laugh. "Not as an excommunicant, and no longer a Priest, you aren't."

"Ah, but I never was excommunicated," Josef's smile turned challenging, "Not officially, or formally, at least."

"Surely I don't need to remind you, Josef Kostan," The Cardinal's own pointed smile met Josef's challenge head on, "Of the term Latae Setenitiae, or what it means?"

"Automatic excommunication, without the explicit declaration of a Bishop, or other Church superior, following the breaking of certain Canon Laws," Josef offered a curt nod, "Yes I am aware of the term Latae Sentenitae, and what it means. And might I remind you, "Josef's tone was brimming with exaggerated polite indifference then, "Of the term 'indelible Priestly character'."

Cardinal Brady knew Josef thought he had him at that point, the triumphant smile playing across Josef's features told him as much.

"You are a Priest forever…" The Cardinal pressed tented fingers against his lips.

"…like Melchizedek of old." Josef arched an eyebrow, and gave a knowing smile. "Once a Priest, always a Priest."

'True," Cardinal Brady's expression fell contemplative, "in certain dire circumstances, The Eucharist may be given by those who otherwise would not be allowed to offer it. I hardly consider the performance of funeral rites for a Priest, when that Priest has already been laid to rest, to constitute a 'dire circumstance' though."

"You know I once heard Francis Nugent speak on the nature of Sacramental Character." Josef casually dropped into the conversation then.

"Francis Nugent?" The Cardinal's surprise was apparent. "The Capuchin?"

Josef opened his mouth to make one of his trademark cutting wits, and then thought the better of it. "You seem surprised?" He answered instead.

"Well the Franciscans and Dominicans weren't exactly on the friendliest of terms back then, a lot of territorial disputes from my understanding." Cardinal Brady leant back in his chair, and regarded Josef with rapt attention. Despite the incongruous of the situation that had just been related, the man seated before him had actually spoken with one of the greatest Theologians in Catholic Christendom. He found himself feeling both greatly impressed, and utterly overwhelmed at the same time.

"Well let's just say I was one who took the words_Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare...Veritas...Contemplare et Contemplata Aliis Tradere_ very much to heart." Josef tented his own fingers against his lips then, and regarded the Cardinal with a slightly amused look.

"You considered yourself to be a seeker of knowledge then, I take it." Cardinal Brady's focus was drawn in a single line towards Josef. The man was a study in pure fascination for him.

'It's how I came to be turned, made into a Vampire," Josef quickly clarified, "A Vampire posing as a travelling mystic managed to win me over with a promise of knowing the true nature of God. I couldn't resist the temptation, and here I am." Josef smiled and trailed a hand through the air, as if there were no more to say on the matter.

The conversation continued on from that point, via a series of debates, and counterpoints. Josef occasionally dropped another name, of both well known and lesser figures in Catholic history, into the mix. Mainly just for his own enjoyment of seeing the look that passed over the Cardinal's face every time he did so. A look the Cardinal himself couldn't quite manage to hide, despite his attempts to the contrary.

Eventually a phone call to the Vatican bought the discussion to a close. Josef would be allowed to receive and offer The Eucharist, on the condition that it remained a closed Mass, not open to the general public. And that those in attendance had the right to accept or refuse communion as their own conscience dictated.

"Thank you." Josef nodded a polite acceptance, and stood up, bending down briefly to place a kiss upon the ring worn on the Cardinal's hand, as a sign of respect.

"All done?" Mick had sat waiting for Josef in the nave of the Church. He stood up, eager to greet Josef's return and be assured that everything was alright.

"Yeah, all done." Josef shifted towards Mick and drew his arms around Mick's waist. "And I'm fine, stop worrying." The look of concern on Mick's face had not gone unnoticed.

Josef began to lead Mick away, planning to head back to the hotel to change into the Vestments, and prepare for the Mass to be held that evening. He turned back just in time to see the disapproving look being thrown in their direction by Cardinal Brady, as he watched them take their leave.

Incredible, the man had seemed to take the news of Josef being a more than four centuries old, blood drinking member of the Undead, and yet here he was aiming daggers at him for his show of affection towards another man.

"Leave it," Mick directed a quick look towards Josef, and shook his head, "it's not worth it."

Josef hesitated for a moment, and then sighed a reluctant agreement. Not before placing a quick kiss on the side of Mick's face though. That much of a point, Josef decided he did want to make.

Back at the hotel, Mick sat watch on the bed as Josef went through the ritual of donning the Cassock and Cope he would be wearing to conduct Holy Mass.

Josef finished dressing, and then turned and arched a curious eyebrow at Mick. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, fine, why?" Mick titled his head and looked bemused. Again he had to wonder exactly why Josef should be concerned about him.

"Well you haven't tried to jump me, and you don't look as if you're about to, so…"

Mick's laugh cut through the rest of Josef's sentence left unfinished. And then Mick did something that caught Josef momentarily off-guard. He knelt before him, arms wrapped around Josef's waist, and the side of his face pressed against Josef's robes. It almost felt like a gesture of supplication.

"Do you want me to give you absolution?" Josef placed a hand under Mick's chin, and tilted Mick's face towards his look. "Why, what have you done?"

The line of Josef's mouth drew into a teasing smile, and then he reached down to pull Mick to his feet.

"You do not ever kneel before me like that, Mick." Josef's expression fell earnest. "Not unless you're planning to propose marriage, or have my cock in your mouth. Ok?"

"Ok." Mick stifled a laugh, and then leant in to place an affectionate kiss on Josef's mouth. "What time is the main event?"

Mick was trying to make light of the situation. Nevertheless Josef still heard the gentle tone of concern in Mick's voice.

"Mass starts at ." Josef traced the back of his hand along the line of Mick's jaw. "I'm sorry you can't be there."

"I know." Mick waved a dismissive hand in the air, trying to convey the sentiment that it really didn't matter.

"I need to be alone for a while now, Mick." Josef sounded almost apologetic. "I have to…"

"…You don't need to explain." Mick placed another kiss on Josef's mouth. "I'll head out for a while, take a walk around the city, check out some of the sights."

"Mick?" Josef called after Mick's retreating form.

"What?"

"Just, be careful, ok."

"So how did it go?" Mick repeated his earlier question, as Josef settled back into his arms on the hotel room's couch.

Josef had returned several hours ago. The downcast look on his face had told Mick that something was wrong. He'd asked Josef then what had happened, but changed the subject when Josef's expression made it clear he wasn't ready to divulge anything.

Finally Josef relented. His voice couched in reluctant admittance, his self reproach clearly evident, he told Mick what had happened. He hadn't been able to do it. All the back and forth, and theological arguments with Cardinal Brady, and the time he had spent preparing for it, and when the time came, he had not been able to take Holy Communion.

"I guess God doesn't like being dictated to after all." Josef finished, and snorted a wry laugh. Right then he felt like he needed a drink, and to fuck Mick, although not necessarily in that order.

"I'm sorry."

Mick didn't know what else to say. He knew how much it had meant to Josef to accept communion again. Josef had considered it a service to Father Patrick. The fact that he hadn't been able to go through with it in the end, must have been an exercise in disappointment for him.

"You want to go out for a while?" Josef heard Mick asking him then, as Mick disengaged himself from their couch embrace, and stood up.

"Sure." Josef shrugged a reply. It looked as if that drink he needed was going to come first.

They walked hand in hand through the streets of Galway, heading for a great little pub Mick had insisted they just had to check out.

And then Josef stopped in his tracks, his eyes drawn towards the image of a man roasting Chestnuts over hot coals, standing in front of them. Josef's gaze fixed on those coals, glowing red in the dark-lit night. Mick felt an involuntary shiver pass through Josef's body.

"I want them dead, Mick." Josef turned to face Mick then, fangs descended, and eyes flashed to ice blue, his voice bristling with Vampiric menace….

"…All of them."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What you are proposing amounts to all out war."

The Vampire seated across the table from Josef, locked gazes with him for a moment, his crystalline eyes boring into Josef's in a pointed mark of challenge.

"Tell me," Josef looked down at his fingernails, pretending to study half moons and striations etched over keratin surface, "do you know what it feels like to be raped by molten steel?"

Mick visibly flinched at Josef's words. The Vampire, who had spoken just prior, averted his eyes and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

He had been introduced as Jaques Duprix, one of the high ranking officials of The Order of Dracul, and the immediate superior of Pierre Lamont. Seated next to him was Frederick Islen, Secretary General in charge of The Order's administration. Flanking both of them respectively were George Mailor and Jacob Worthington, both heads of The Order's Department of Military Planning and Strategy.

At the head of the table, with all the dark resplendence of one whose age conferred upon him the title of Ancient, sat Auguste Vasilescu, Grand Chancellor, the man who in charge of everything, the most powerful Vampire in the entire Immortal world.

A week had passed since Josef and Mick had arrived home from Ireland. A week in which phone calls had passed back and forth and plans had been made. Now they found themselves seated amongst some of the true leaders of the Vampire Nation. Others were invited, and had been unable to attend. A teleconferencing link kept them informed of proceedings.

More than once Mick had been informed of his extreme privilege at being allowed to attend these meetings. If it weren't for his association with Josef, he wouldn't have been given permission to even be in the same room as the others when matters were being discussed. Ones as young in comparison as he was, simply weren't made privy to The Order's private business.

Mick had to admit, after the eleventh time of being told the exact same words his patience had started to wear thin.

"Josef Kostan has a point." It was Auguste himself who spoke then, addressing the table as a whole. "Exactly how long are we planning to let the Legion get away with attacking, and torturing our kind, or stealing our mortal charges from us, or disrupting our way of life for their own ends."

"With all due respect, Sir…" George Mailor's formed words were cut off by the raise of a hand from Auguste.

"Please, I'd like to hear what Josef has to say on the matter." Auguste politely deferred. "He is the one who called us here after all."

Josef cleared his throat and began to speak, outlining what he saw as the Legion simply becoming too big for its own boots. True a desire for revenge formed part of it, but beyond that, in his opinion they had allowed the Legion to operate for far too long, and get away with far too much. Josef cited examples of attacks on his own family, and the families of others to emphasise his point. They needed to send a message, something that would resonate through out the Legion's entire powerbase, and let them know the Vampire Nation would not take things lying down, not anymore.

"And what does Mick think of all of this?" Auguste turned his focus to Mick.

Mick looked surprise that his opinion was being sort. He cleared his own throat, and stammered out a hurried reply. "I ah, well ok, I agree the Legion shouldn't be allowed to run completely unchecked…"

"…But?" Auguste prompted.

"But I'm just not sure if my husband's opinion isn't being clouded by personal feelings, considering recent events." Mick placed an apologetic hand on Josef's arm, and mouthed the word sorry after he had finished speaking. "I do agree, if we are going to go after them, then striking quick and hard seems to be the best way. Make them think twice about any sort of retaliation."

Auguste contemplated Mick's words for a moment, a studied finger drawing back and forth across the surface of the table in front of him.

"You know for someone so young, Mick St John," Mick found himself on the receiving end of an appreciative smile from Auguste then, "I must say, you have a surprising level of wisdom."

"I am a hundred and fifty four you know." Mick's patience with being reminded of his comparative age and status in the group wore away.

"I'm seventeen hundred and sixty two." Auguste's raised brow smile of wry amusement belied the casual manner in which he had spoke, as if he were doing no more than mentioning a point of interest in passing.

At that point, Mick thought it best to just shut his mouth.

"So tell me," Auguste shifted his attention towards Josef, "exactly how much of this is personal for you, Josef Kostan."

"All of it." Josef's tone was forthright. "The Legion has threatened, and attacked my family, tortured me for no other reason than a personal vendetta being waged, put my husband through hell watching me recover from that. I want them stopped."

"I thought you said there was something to this beyond your own desire for revenge?" Auguste challenged, and then raised a silencing finger at the protest forming on Josef's lips.

Auguste bought proceedings to a close then. They had spoken about matters enough for now. It was time to relax, and enjoy the company of some liquid refreshments.

"Would the two of you perhaps like to get a room?" Auguste reclined back on the couch, and arched a teasing eyebrow in Josef and Mick's direction.

Mick looked up from their shared feeding on the opposite side of the room, and quickly wiped away the blood that Josef had smeared across his mouth, before Josef's lips and tongue had the chance to do the job for him.

"Oh relax." Auguste snorted a laugh, and shook his head. "I'm rather enjoying the visceral entertainment. I like to watch."

Auguste's voice fell dark salacious, and Mick got the distinct impression he meant more than just feeding. He exchanged a quick glance with Josef, silently hoping that Josef wasn't going to do anything rash, like invite Auguste up to their room for a nightcap. Not that they hadn't engaged in such shared activities in times past. It was just one thing to be expected to perform with someone who was a few hundred years older than he was, let alone with someone who was more than a thousand years his senior.

"We probably should be retiring for the evening." Josef's expression indicated to Mick he meant just the two of them. Mick almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Probably a wise idea," Auguste arched another teasing eyebrow, and stifled another laugh; "your beverage is looking decidedly anaemic."

Josef ignored Auguste's friendly ribbing, and stood up, pulling Mick to his feet along with him.

"Feel free to relax, and make yourself at home for however long you wish to stay." Josef directed towards Auguste with casual breeze then. "Just make sure you pull the door shut properly when you leave, it locks automatically. Our house is your house, and all that."

"All Vampires houses are my house, and all that, Josef Kostan." Auguste reached for the decanter of Scotch in front of him, and poured a generous serving, before lifting the glass towards Josef in a pointed toast.

Josef almost looked as if he were about to reel back, and throw out a line of barbed challenge then. He didn't, he knew his place as well as any of them. There was only so far one could go when deciding to quip the light sarcastic with the man who ran the show.

Josef smiled, and nodded in deferential agreement instead, and began to lead Mick away.

Upstairs they came together in a hurried embrace, quickly making light work of removing layers of clothing, before falling onto the bed in a heated tangle of fangs and limbs.

"You thought I was I going to invite Auguste to join us, didn't you?" Josef's fingers mapped the contours of Mick's body laid bare before him.

"Well, yeah, for a moment I wasn't sure." Mick's sheepish admittance was met by an amused look.

"Mick," Josef shook his head, and stifled the laugh that was forming on his lips, "how long have we been monogamous?"

It was a rhetorical question. Josef wasn't expecting an answer.

Josef's fingers encircled Mick's cock then, a hand stroking along Mick's length. Mick groaned and arched into the sensation.

"I'm sorry." Mick breathed the words into the side of Josef's neck, as Josef's other hand gripped the back of his skull, and drew him close.

Josef broke away from their embrace momentarily, and held Mick at arms length whilst he studied Mick's face.

"What on earth are you going on about now, Mick St John?" Josef tittered and arched a curious eyebrow in Mick's direction.

"Before, downstairs, when Auguste asked for my opinion," Mick rolled his eyes at Josef's bemused expression, "I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive of you when I answered."

"Mick," Josef's expression fell incredulous, "do you think I expect you to just act as my mouthpiece? I do happen to think you have a mind of your own you know."

"You mean you love me for more than just my body?" Mick snorted a laugh, and shifted back into Josef's space.

"Well that is part of the appeal as well, Mick." Josef gave a raised brow laugh of his own, and reached up a hand to caress the planes of Mick's face.

Mick drew breath to say something else, but Josef silenced him with a finger tracing over Mick's lips.

"The next time you open your mouth," Josef said then, just before he covered Mick's lips with his own, "it had better be because you're screaming my name."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Morning."

Mick awoke to find Josef grinning down at him, a hand tracing a downwards trajectory along his abdomen.

"Morning." Mick reached a hand behind Josef's head, and drew him into his space, his lips pressing against Josef's own, tongue probing the space of Josef's mouth.

It had been a week since their initial meeting with the heads of The Order. More meetings had been scheduled, and attended since then. Auguste had been taking advisement and submissions from all quarters, not prepared to make a final decision on Josef's proposal until he had what he considered all of the facts at hand.

Another meeting had been scheduled for the following evening. For now all Josef was interested in doing was spending some quality time with Mick, preferably out of the freezer and somewhere a little more conducive to the activities Josef had in mind.

"We should…"

Josef didn't need to finish his sentence. Mick was already climbing out of the freezer.

"…Yeah, we should."

Over on the bed Mick lay back as Josef's lips and tongue caressed a hurried path towards his cock. Mick's hands gripped Josef's skull, urging him downwards.

Proceedings were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Crap." Josef gritted his teeth, and hissed under his breath with barely disguised annoyance.

"This better be important." Josef leant against the frame of the now open doorway; a robe wrapped loosely around his naked form, and arched a pointed eyebrow at Katherine.

"I just got a phone call from Pierre." Katherine at least had the decency to offer an apologetic smile. "Apparently Auguste wants you are Headquarters immediately. He didn't say why. I've got directions if you need them?"

"Looks like we've just been summoned." Josef turned towards Mick and commented with the raise of an eyebrow, and a quick toss of his head.

"Great." Mick looked none too pleased that any planned intimacy would now have to wait until later. "I guess I'd better get dressed then."

"You've made a decision then?" Josef dispensed with any ritual niceties and cut straight to the chase.

"I told you, Josef Kostan," Auguste Vasilescu's words were pointed, "I will not be hurried when it comes to that matter. No, actually," His expression shifted more congenial then, "I have a present for you. Come with me."

Auguste lead Josef and Mick through a series of locked doors, and winding corridors, until they reached a windowless room hidden away in the labyrinth depths.

"He's all yours." Auguste waved an extravagant hand toward the newly turned Vampire lying staked on a cold metal bench in front of them. "Have fun."

Auguste placed a knowing hand on Josef's shoulder, and smiled a dark grimace of drawn back lips and fangs, before taking his leave.

Josef's stomach clenched in recognition at the sight of the figure lying prone paralysed before him. The head Torturer of the Legion captured and laid out just for him, freshly turned, presumably to enhance the sweetness of revenge, allowing barriers of pain that would kill a mortal to be breached. Despite the man's display of fanged bravado, as he bared his teeth at Josef, there was obvious fear etched into his expression. He had to know what was coming.

Josef turned towards Mick then, arms folded across his chest and his own expression pointed, as if he were waiting for Mick to say, or do something.

"What?" Mick shot a bemused look in Josef's direction, wondering for the moment exactly what Josef was trying to indicate in his stance of hinted instruction.

"You," Josef stabbed a quick pointed finger in Mick's direction, and then gestured towards the door, "leave, now."

Josef's tone brokered no argument.

"No," Mick dug his heels in, in response, "I think I'm gonna stay."

"Mick," Josef's expression fell almost pleading, "I am going to do to him, everything that was done to me. I don't want you to see that."

"Josef, I already know most of what was done to you. I read their handbook, remember. And you said yourself the bastard put me through hell having to watch you in the state _he_ reduced you to. I've got as much right to revenge as you have."

Mick knew that wasn't entirely true, but he figured it was as good an argument as any to offer.

"Oh fine, suit yourself." Against his better judgement, Josef relented.

He turned his attention back to Mr 'soon to be howling in excruciating agony' Legion Torturer then, and stroked an incongruously tender hand over the top of the man's skull.

"And now," Josef reached for one of the implements laid out for his convenience on a table next to him, and bent to whisper dark menace. "I'm going to tear your soul apart."

Five hours later Mick was an ashen faced mess, crouched shaking in the corner of the room.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Josef approached Mick with concern, his hands and personage steeped in gore.

"Christ," Mick pressed his hands against his ears, trying to block the keening sounds of pain that emanated from the animated corpse lying butchered on the slab in front of him, oscillating between guilt ridden sympathy for the agony it had been forced to endure, and revulsion at having Josef's own ordeal so graphically laid out for him, "that noise, make it stop."

Mick was hit by a fresh revelation then. What he had just borne witness to was only perhaps a third of the true extent of the horrors Josef himself had endured. Mick's stomach lurched in revilement, dark splatters of blood vomit sprayed across the wall next to him.

Josef had seen all he wanted to. He picked up a sharp edged sword and walked back over to the ruination lying on the table.

"For my husband, and only for my husband," Josef pressed his face mere inches away from the grimacing mess before him, "I am going to show you something you never showed me…Mercy."

With that Josef arced the sword in a swift, downwards trajectory, and neatly severed a head from its shoulders.

"Mick, come on," Josef dropped the sword and shifted to crouch by Mick's side, a worried hand leaving bloody imprints on the sleeves of Mick's shirt as Josef reached out to try and offer Mick some kind of reassurance, "it's over, let's just go get cleaned up, and get out of here."

Mick allowed himself to be assisted shakily to his feet, and lead away from the carnage. Outside in the corridor he lost what little equilibrium he had managed to gain, falling back, and sliding down the wall to collapse seated on the floor beneath.

Josef sat down next to Mick, and waited for him to speak the words he could see already formed on Mick's lips.

"How the hell did you survive that?"

"One of those 'benefits of Immortality' things I suppose," Josef forced a smile, and waved a dismissive hand in an attempt to lighten the situation, "and besides," he said with a faux air of scoffed indignation then, "I had you to think about. You didn't think I was ever going to leave you to look after yourself, did you?"

Josef's hand clutching Mick's, fingers tightly entwined, belied his pretence.

Suddenly Mick was on his feet, wound coiled like a cobra ready to strike. And then he took of running.

"Try door number three." Josef called out as he took off after him, watching as Mick raced through a maze of corridors, opening, or breaking down, one door after another.

Despite his superior speed, it was all Josef could do to keep up with Mick, fueled as Mick was by adrenaline and the seeming desire, at that moment, to start kicking in doors, and busting heads.

"I don't give a rat's ass if you approve this or not," finally Mick burst into Auguste Vasilescu's office, unannounced, and uninvited, "If Josef wants to go to war, then fine, we're going to war…and that's final."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How dare you…"

The guard was on his feet, rounding the table with sword drawn from scabbard as soon as he registered the figure bursting through the door of Auguste Vasilescu's office.

Auguste hurriedly gestured for the man to stand down, and turned his attention to Mick, now standing wild eyed and thunder faced before him.

"I thought you said this wasn't personal, for you?"

"Yeah, well that was before I had all the facts." Mick stabbed a sharpened finger, the words emanating from his throat in a rough growl.

And then Josef was standing alongside, his hand gripping Mick's arm.

"Mick, for fuck sake, will you get a hold of yourself." Josef's voice was low and commanding, a controlled contrast to Mick's own.

Mick shook him off, and continued to rant and rail unabated.

"Do you know what they did to him?" Mick attempted to wear holes in the carpet as he paced back and forth in front of Auguste's desk, stopping every now and then to emphasise his point with a determined hand gesture, "Do you have any idea the level of pain they put him through? Man, it was barbaric. I mean I knew it was bad, I read that handbook of theirs, but I didn't really know, not how bad, exactly. Christ, they practically butchered him alive, and you expect either one of us to just sit back and let them get away with it?"

Mick scrubbed frustrated hands over his face, as Josef attempted once again to placate him.

And then Auguste was rising out of his seat, and walking towards Mick with slow, measured steps. Josef instinctively stepped in front of his husband, his senses reflexively heightening. He was poised ready, intent on defending Mick if need be. Regardless of the fact that, even at close to half a millennia in age, he was no match for someone of Auguste Vasilescu's considerable years, and status.

A brief wave, and a pointed look, that he surmised was meant to be seen as a gesture of reassurance, told Josef, Mick was in no immediate danger. He let out an audible sigh of relief, and stepped to one side.

"Sit, down." Auguste laid a hand on top of Mick's shoulder, and exerted the barest of pressure. Mick immediately folded, crumpling back into a chair just behind where he had stood.

It was a clear display of strength on the part of Vasilescu, and Mick fell obediently silent.

"Now," Auguste crouched down, resting on his haunches in front of Mick. It was the act of a parent talking to a very small child, by placing themselves on the child's level, "are you seriously going to tell me that you would risk your own life, and that of your husband, and of your family, and the entire Vampire nation combined, just because you have now decided to turn avenging angel and rush headlong into the fray with fangs blazing?"

Mick remained silent, until he realised Auguste was waiting for him to respond.

"No."

"Good. Then might I make a suggestion," the patronising smile on Auguste's face, and the pointed tone of his voice, told Mick that Auguste wasn't suggesting, he was instructing, and he expected his instruction to be obeyed forthwith, "You get up, nice and slow, you smile politely, and you allow your husband to escort the both of you from these premises."

Josef stood nervous watch as Mick nodded his understanding, and then very carefully rose to his feet.

"Come on, let's get you home." Josef took Mick by the hand, and then turned to offer Auguste what he hoped would be viewed as a suitably contrite smile.

Mick shot Josef a barely disguised look of disapproval. It was bad enough he'd just been dealt a patronising hand by Vasilescu, he didn't need his own husband doing the same. For a moment he was tempted to ask Josef if he intended to tuck him into the freezer with a glass of blood, and a nice, soft blankie when they arrived home. He thought the better of it.

"Oh, by the way," Auguste called after Josef and Mick's retreating forms, "that meeting is still scheduled for tomorrow evening. Mick, you won't be attending. Elders only this time I'm afraid."

Josef dug pre-emptive fingers into Mick's arm, warning him not to say, or do anything to antagonise Auguste further. He had no doubt, at that moment, Mick only dared breathe in the wrong direction, and they'd both be on the floor minus their heads.

"Come on, let's just go home." Josef repeated his imploration, and tugged at Mick's arm, willing him to move.

Auguste followed them out to the front exit, guards in tow, and watched until they had climbed into Josef's Ferrari, and driven out of his sight.

The drive home, for the most part, had been spent in silence. Upstairs, Josef had quickly stripped out of his blood soaked clothes, and showered away the evidence of a man's demise.

He lay on the bed now, alongside an also naked, and freshly showered, Mick.

"You ok?" Josef stroked a concerned hand over Micks' shoulder, and down his arm.

"For fuck…Look, will you stop asking me if I'm ok?" Mick let out an annoyed huff of breath. "Christ, I'm the one who should be asking you that, Josef. I am supposed to be taking care of you, you know."

Josef hesitated for a moment, studying the look of self reproach that had fallen across Mick's face. When he spoke, his voice was low, and tinged with regret.

"I thought we looked after one another, Mick…"

"Yeah, we do, I'm sorry…"

"…I should never have allowed you to witness that…"

"…Why did you?"

There was no recrimination in Mick's voice, just a simple statement of curiosity. Even so, Josef still inwardly baulked at the question.

"Because I didn't have the energy to argue the point with you, Mick."

It was at least partly true, nevertheless Josef's own mind cast doubts. Had he really only given in out a sheer lack of willpower on his behalf, or was there something more to it? Surely he hadn't been trying to manipulate Mick into agreeing with his stance on going to war against the Legion?

Josef had to admit, ever since he'd returned home from Ireland, he hadn't felt sure of anything.

"Get on your hands and knees." Josef's voice dripped with salacious command. At least this was one way he knew he could feel in control.

"No." Mick arched a teasing eyebrow, and point blank refused to budge.

"What'd you just say?" Josef looked taken aback by Mick's lack of obedience.

"I said no." Mick's expression fell hesitant for a moment, unsure of what to make of Josef's sudden change of mood. He decided then it was best just to try and ignore it. "You, get on your back."

Mick arched another teasing eyebrow, a grin playing over his features as he pressed a hand into the middle of Josef's chest and exerted enough pressure to push Josef into a supine position.

"Mick, I am really not in the mood…"

"…Who said I was going to be the one topping, Josef?"

Mick reached for the tube of lubricant kept in the bedside cabinet drawer, and then straddled Josef's thighs.

"Relax." Mick bent to whisper the words against the side of Josef's neck, as he wrapped a lubricant coated hand around the shaft of his cock.

"I don't want to relax, Mick," despite his protests, Josef moaned and arched into the sensation as Mick's hand gripped him, and began to stroke, "I want to be all nice and tensed up because I happen to be fucking the unliving hell out of you."

Mick ignored Josef's cavil, and shifted to lower himself onto Josef's erection, drawing in a sharp breath, and letting out a whimper of approval when he felt Josef's cock penetrating his body.

"Are you happy now?" Mick placed both hands either side of Josef's shoulder, arms stretched, and grinned down at Josef lying beneath him.

"Yes, perfectly." Josef shot Mick a smirking reply, his voice dripping with overtones of polite sarcasm.

"Josef," Mick finally had enough of Josef's difficult mood then. He drew arms around Josef's neck and pulled him up into a seated position, mirroring his own, "I know you want to play all alpha male, and be in control, but right now I just need to feel a little more intimate than that, ok?"

"Oh, shit," Josef drew his own arms around Mick's neck, his expression falling immediately contrite, "Mick, I'm…

"…don't apologise to me, alright?" Mick's hands shifted to grip the sides of Josef's skull, "I don't need you to say you're sorry, Josef, I just need you to be with me."

"Yeah, ok, I can do that…"

Josef's reply was a half distracted murmur, as Mick pressed his forehead to Josef's, his gaze locked, and intense on Josef's own, and began to move.

They quickly fell into sync with one another, the rhythm of their thrusts and undulations matching perfect time, Josef' cock pressing repeatedly against Mick's prostate.

"I love you, remember that." Josef's words were half swallowed by Mick's lips pressed fervently against his own, his throat vibrating with the sensation of Mick growling into his mouth.

"I know, ditto." Mick broke away from the kiss, and reclined back, his legs wrapped around Josef, heels dug into the mattress behind for leverage.

The position afforded Josef enough manoeuvrability to lower his head, and take the tip of Mick's erection into his mouth. Mick gasped at the sensation, and fell over the edge, coming with a muffled cry of release as he sank his fangs into the flesh of his own arm and rode out the waves of orgasm that crashed over him.

"Oh shit, that was...Hey," Mick felt Josef withdraw when he was spent, "what about you?"

"Come here." Josef laid back, one arm resting behind his head, as he gestured for Mick to lie alongside him, and then guided Mick's hand onto his erection.

Josef covered Mick's hand with his own and began to direct the pace and pressure of Mick's strokes.

"Oh, fuck." Josef let his eyes fall shut, lips parted, and head thrown back as he alternated between soft purrs and deep growls of approval at the stimulation Mick's hand afforded along his length.

"Faster, Christ, fuck, don't stop." Josef's words were a heated command. And then he was falling into his own release, sinking sharp teeth into the skin of Mick's throat, and flooding Mick's fingers with pulsations of fluid.

Mick waited until Josef was spent, before reaching for the box of tissues on a shelf above the bed, and wiping Josef's semen from his hand. He lay back alongside Josef then, fingers drawing lazy circles over the skin of Josef's chest, and head nestled into the crook of Josef's shoulder.

"What do you think Auguste is going to say at the meeting tomorrow night, do you reckon he's ready to make any sort of announcement, one way or the other?"

"I don't know." Josef drew his arms around Mick's shoulders, and pressed his lips against the top of Mick's head. "I'll fill you in on whatever happens."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Mick snorted a wry laugh "I thought I'd been banished from the inner sanctum."

"You're my husband, Mick," Josef's words were spoken in earnest, "do you really think whether I'm allowed or not is even a consideration for me, within reason of course."

Mick laughed at Josef's pointed disclaimer. He knew exactly what Josef was getting at.

"So I take it you won't be attempting to smuggle me into the meeting then?" Mick teased.

"Well I considered perhaps having you ride on my shoulders, with me wearing an extra long coat to disguise the fact," Josef deadpanned in response, "but then I figured me walking into the room, having inexplicably grown more than six feet in height, might just raise a few suspicions."

Josef sat up then, and offered his hand to Mick.

"Come on, let's hit the icebox. It has been a very long, very tiring…very satisfying, kind of a day. I think we could both do with some rest."

------------------------------------------------------```````

"I'm sorry, am I going too fast for you, Josef Kostan?"

Auguste Vasilescu reclined back in his seat at the head of the table, and arched an amused eyebrow at the image of Josef frantically scrawling penciled words across the page of a notebook rested on the table in front of him.

Josef raised a silencing finger in the air, and hurriedly jotted down the last few words that Auguste had spoken just prior. When he was done, he glanced up from his writing, and affected a smile of perfectly false contrition, indicating for Auguste to 'please continue', with the indulgent wave of a hand.

"Are you sure now?" Auguste snorted a wry laugh. He was rather enjoying this little charade of cat and mouse he now found himself involved in. Josef throwing out morsels of prey, to see if he would pounce, "Because I can go a little slower for you, repeat every word thrice over to make sure you haven't missed a single letter, perhaps provide you with some nice bar charts and pie diagrams for illustrative purposes?"

"That won't be necessary, I'm sure I'll manage." Josef offered another indulgent wave, capped off with an overly gracious smile, and waited for Auguste to continue.

"I take it the notes are for Mick's benefit?"

Auguste was challenging Josef point blank then. Josef hesitated for a moment, carefully weighing up the situation. He'd purposefully invited Auguste, and his entourage of various ranked members of the Order, to pre-arranged drinks before the official meeting got underway, just to assess the current state of Auguste's emotions. Josef wanted to know just how far he could push things when it came to the issue of Mick's attendance, or non attendance, at any planned discussions.

"He is my husband, Auguste." Josef decided to try and appeal to what he saw as Auguste's 'romantic' streak. "Whatever affects the Vampire Nation, affects me, and him in turn."

Josef spoke the words in earnest, accompanying them with an open handed gesture of placation, and a pleading smile.

He was playing his hand well, and Auguste couldn't help but admire him for his sheer gall. The younger Vampire was showing a level of shrewdness, and charm, which might be considered an asset when it came to the fairer side of any proposed battle plans.

Auguste beckoned one of the guards, flanked on either side of him, and gave a quick instruction. The guard took his leave, and then returned several minutes later with a bewildered looking Mick St John in tow. From the expression on Mick's face, it was clear he had not been expecting to be attending this meeting at all.

Mick gave Josef a brief, shrugged shouldered look of question and was met with an equally hurried smile of reassurance.

"Have a seat, Mick." Auguste's voice speaking pointed instruction, a directive finger waggled towards a chair set against the wall, away from the table, interrupted their exchange.

No sooner had Mick taken a seat where Auguste had indicated, Josef had left his own position at the table, and was seated next to him. It was a calculated risk on Josef's part. He knew he was pushing the upper limits of blatant insubordination, but he felt sure he had read Auguste's mood well. He felt confident he would be allowed, at least this once, to get away with it.

Josef's actions were a clear statement to all present. Mick was his partner, and they worked as an inseparable team. Whatever happened, Josef's loyalty in that respect could never be denied.

The sharp flick of a hand from Auguste, summoned the both of them to the table. Auguste's pointed expression told a tale of its own. No more games. Josef knew then he had used up whatever patience Auguste might have otherwise possessed, at least for the remainder of their scheduled meeting.

Josef waited for Mick to have a seat, and then inclined his head towards Auguste in grateful deference, before pulling up a seat beside him, the brief pressure of Josef's hand on Mick's thigh, silently warning Mick not to speak unless spoken to.

Auguste waited until all were properly seated, and then continued on with the meeting. This time he didn't expect there would be any further interruptions.

Several long and tedious hours later, Auguste was ready to hear final summations from each of the key figures gathered at the table, familiar names and faces that Josef and Mick had been introduced to in nights prior.

Mick listened to the hemming and hawing as each one took their turn reiterating points that had already been discussed ad nauseam, and tried not to make his growing restlessness too apparent.

"Are we boring you, St John?"

Too late, Auguste had already noticed.

"No, not at all." Mick cleared his throat nervously, and tried to settle into a more comfortable position.

"You perchance happen to have something to say on the matters being discussed?" Auguste spoke as if he were inviting Mick to make an informal toast at a casual gathering.

"No." Mick politely declined the offer.

"That wasn't a request, Mick."

Auguste's tone sharpened. Mick found himself caught between trying to formulate a worthy response, and wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He spent a moment silently cursing Josef for dragging him into this situation unannounced, and unprepared.

Suddenly, it seemed, all eyes were on him.

"I, ah, well I mean, It's just that, ah…" After a shaky start, Mick cleared his throat and started again. "It's just that, it seems to me, as an inexperienced observer," Mick thought a little self deprecation wouldn't go astray at the point, "that you're thinking too much along the lines of how Elder Vampires would think."

"Funny about that." A voice chortled from across the other side of the table.

Auguste allowed them to have their moment of tittering amusement, before raising a silencing hand and commanding Mick with a pointed utterance. "Explain, what you mean by that remark."

Mick began to go back through what had already been discussed, his confidence growing as he pointed out key elements that needed to redressed, casting what he termed a more 'human eye' over plans and proceedings.

Mick's premise was simple. You have to know your enemy, know how they think, and feel, and respond, know their strengths and their weaknesses, know how to anticipate their moves and countermoves, then, and only then, could you hope to truly defeat them when it came to an all out war.

In essence The Order needed to start thinking less like a enclave of age old Vampires, and more like the mortals they were planning to go up against.

When he was finished, Auguste cast an approving eye, whilst Josef sat beside Mick; one arm draped protectively over Mick's shoulder, and smiled smug beams of pride.

And then Auguste was calling the meeting to a close, rising to bid farewell to the other elders that had gathered to hear the events of the evening, whilst indicating that he expected Josef and Mick to remain behind, with him.

"You know for one so young, Mick St John," Auguste approached Mick with a disarmingly open faced smile when the others had finished vacating the room, "I have to admit I never cease to be amazed at the level of wisdom you seem to possess, far beyond your years."

"Thanks…"

"…So it pains me even more to have to do this."

With that Auguste shifted towards Mick with lightning fast precision. His fingers digging talon like as he gripped Mick's face, and then slammed Mick's head into the wall behind, hard enough to shatter the back of Mick's skull, and render him unconscious.

Josef was on his knees, kneeling beside Mick, in an instant. The blow had been hard enough to kill any mortal, and potentially hard enough to kill a Vampire.

Auguste watched the scene unfolding before him, Josef gingerly holding Mick's head in his lap, panic stricken.

"You really do love him, don't you?" Auguste sounded almost surprised.

Josef didn't answer, fingers frantically probing Mick's skull, checking for signs of egg shell fragments realigning with new growth.

"Josef," Auguste knelt down beside Josef then, and tapped a pointed finger against the side of Josef's face, bidding Josef look at him. He still had a point to make after all, "that," he gestured toward the still form of Mick cradled in Josef's arms, "was your first and final warning. You ever openly challenge my authority again; the next blow I deliver won't be so restrained."

Auguste waited until Josef had nodded his clear understanding, and then rose to his feet, pausing before he did so to brush concerned fingers through Josef's hair.

"You never answered my other question?" Ruthless he may have been, a monster, Auguste was not. "You really do love him, don't you?"

"Yes." Josef's simple, one word reply spoke volumes.

"Since lingering in the arms of my beloved…" Auguste spoke half forgotten snatches of verse.

"…I lost all memory of you and midnight."

Auguste paused for a moment, and then took his leave.

Outside, a lone figure, shrouded in the glow of cigarette ash, stepped forth from the shadows.

"You must be, Roisin." Auguste regarded the cropped haired urchin standing in front of him.

"And you must be Count Dracula." Roisin's reply was quick off the mark.

Auguste chortled an amused laugh, "Well I suppose that is a fair assessment."

Roisin took another flame tipped draw from her cigarette, and pointedly flicked the ash toward Auguste's general direction.

Auguste regarded the child standing before him; he couldn't help but note the same defiant streak that he had seen apparent in her Uncle. He wondered if it weren't perhaps a Kostan family trait.

"You must be pleased that your family is alright, after recent events I mean." Auguste made an attempt at polite conversation as he waited for his driver to bring the car around.

"But they're not though, are they?" It was a rhetorical question. "I'm not blind, or stupid you know," Roisin tapped the pads of two fingers against the corner of her left eye, "I see. It's all a facade, but I see."

And then Roisin was tossing the cold tipped end of a cigarette butt under the sole of her shoe, and crushing it beneath a sharply twisted foot.

And Auguste was left to ponder the mysteries of mortality at age sixteen, as he watched the child saunter away from him, back towards the house whence she had come, without saying another word.

----------------------------------------

---------------------------

"You ok?" Josef trailed a hand down Mick's torso. He had carried a semi-conscious Mick up to their room not less than an hour ago. Lying alongside him on the bed, Josef had kept a concerned watch as he waited for Mick to regain his full senses.

"No, I have a splitting headache." Mick scrunched his brow, and squeezed his eyes shut tight against the dull roar that seemed to pound throughout his skull.

"Oh ha ha, Mick." Josef chortled, a grin forming over his features.

"That wasn't supposed to be funny you know." Mick's disquiet was apparent. Creases of disapproval lined his forehead.

"Sorry." Josef's expression fell contrite. And then his hand was moving downwards, pressing against Mick's crotch, fingers squeezing and stroking Mick's length through the material of his pants.

"Josef," Mick snatched Josef's hand away, "what part of 'I have a splitting headache', did you not understand, exactly?"

"Sorry." Josef repeated his act of contrition, his own expression filled with a mixture of confusion, and hurt at Mick's brusque rejection. "Isn't this supposed to be good for relieving headaches though?"

Josef's tone shifted salacious, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. And then Josef's hand was stroking and squeezing Mick's cock through the barrier of his pants once more, fingers working to undo various buttons and fastenings.

"I said I wasn't in the mood, Josef." Mick's expression darkened. He knocked Josef's hand aside, rougher this time, and then turned to face Josef, his face a mask of accusation. "Just what the hell were you thinking back there?"

Josef blanched at the look that had fallen across Mick's face. He tried to stammer out another hurried apology, only to find his words cut off as Mick sat bolt upright and railed unabated.

"…You could have gotten me killed. Are you crazy, what the hell's wrong with you? For fuck sake, you don't start throwing your weight around, to that extent, with someone like Auguste Vasilescu. Who the fuck did you think you were back there?"

"Your husband, actually, Mick," Josef was rapidly losing patience with Mick's outburst, "that's who the fuck I thought I was."

"Oh, so that little display of machismo downstairs was all for my benefit was it, Josef?" Mick's tone left no doubt that he didn't believe Josef's excuses for a moment.

"You know, not that I expect you to care, or understand…"

"…What did you say?" Mick cut Josef's indignation off at the pass, teeth clenched with growing anger, "How fucking dare you accuse me of shit like that, when I've done nothing but care for you, and worry about you, and…you know what," Mick was on his feet and heading for the door then, waving a dismissive hand behind him as he went, "you're not even worth arguing with right now."

Josef followed Mick to the doorway of the bedroom and stood there shouting rapid fire abuse, in the native tongue of his homeland, after Mick's retreating form. Before slamming the door shut behind him.

Mick hadn't taken more than few steps before he found himself being confronted by a storm faced Roisin, her expression radiating disapproval as she emerged from her own bedroom to confront her Uncle with crossed arm, silent accusation.

"I…ah…I guess you heard then?" Mick studied Roisin's darkened expression, his brow furrowing with sheepish concern, and the sudden need reassure his young niece. "It's nothing for you to worry about, ok?" Mick placed a hand on Roisin's shoulder, and tried to offer his reassurance. "We just had a bit of a disagreement, that's all. We're fine."

Deep down, Mick knew those words weren't true. He was lying, not just to Roisin, but to himself. Josef wasn't fine, and neither was he. His snap toned reaction to Josef just prior had been borne more out of fear, and a desperate desire to shut out what neither of them wanted to face. They weren't 'fine', and the illusion was starting to crumble.

"But you're not though, are you, Uncle Mick." Roisin echoed Mick's own thoughts, the matter of fact tone of her voice a direct contrast to Mick's forced smile attempt at dismissing any apparent problems.

And then, without waiting for a response, Roisin casually announced she needed to be getting back to school, and turned to walk away.

Outside, Roisin was met at the front steps by a newly familiar face stepping out from under dappled sunlit shadow.

"Hello again, Roisin." A gentleman's bow accompanied Auguste's greeting.

"Well, well," Roisin cocked her head and gave Auguste a raised brow smirk, "if it isn't a tall thin man clad in black And how are you today, Count?"

"Fine, thank you." Auguste stifled a laugh, and then offered his arm for Roisin to take. "I thought I might walk you back to school, perhaps we could talk along the way."

Roisin hesitated for a moment, her gaze moving warily over the elder Vampire's face, searching for any signs of potential danger. When she saw there were none, she gave a curt nod and linked her arm with Auguste's.

"I like you, you know," Auguste's voice was light, no more than a polite tone of conversation as they began to walk off up the street together, "you have a lot of fire, and determination in you. You'll make a fine Vampire one of these days."

"I don't want to be a Vampire. I'm human, and I will always be human. Uncle Josef and Uncle Mick know that."

Auguste was taken aback by the certainty of Roisin's reply. He couldn't fathom anyone knowingly rejecting the chance of immortality.

"Well, maybe you'll change your mind one day." Auguste smiled and brushed Roisin's words aside with the casual wave of a hand.

"I seriously doubt that." Roisin muttered a quick response under her breath, and then stopped short, forcing Auguste to pull up quick alongside her. "Look," Roisin turned to face Auguste directly then, "what is it exactly that you want?"

"I told you," Auguste shrugged and tried to look nonplussed, "I thought I'd walk you back to school, and we could just…talk."

"Talk, about what, exactly?" Roisin's tone was a suspicious challenge. "And I assume neither of my Uncles knows that you've suddenly decided to pimp yourself out as my personal escort?"

"No, they don't." Auguste inclined his head in polite admittance, and then stifled another laugh at the quipped tone reply Roisin had given him. "As for what I want to talk about, well why don't you just walk with me and find out."

And then Auguste was offering Roisin a devastating smile. Confident in his millennia old ability to charm most mortals he drew an arm around Roisin's shoulders, and began to lead her off up the street in front of them once again.

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Mick was standing at the kitchen sink, downing his morning glass of A positive, when he felt the cold familiarity of a freezer chilled body pressing against his own.

He hadn't spoken a word to Josef since their argument. They had both eventually fallen into fitful sleep, turned away from one another in the pale blue light of their icy receptacle, after spending most of the remaining time prior doing their level best to pretend the other didn't exist.

"What?" Mick tried to sound stern, but the effect was lost in the note of tenderness that crept into his voice. He placed a hand over Josef's arm drawn around his waist, and lent back into the embrace.

"Nothing," Josef pressed closer, drawing his arm tighter around Mick's waist, the other reaching around to caress Mick's chest. "Just…I'm sorry, about yesterday…you know."

"Yeah, I know." Mick smiled, and lifted Josef's hand, pressing Josef's palm against his lips.  
_  
__You need to talk to him, find out what's wrong. Because something isn't right, and you both know it, time to cut the pretence, Mick St John._

Mick ignored the insistent voice berating him inside his head, choosing to push such thoughts to the back of his mind, and enjoy this moment of shared tenderness instead.

And then Josef's hand was moving from his chest, and slipping beneath the elastic waist band of his draw string pants.

"Oh fuck, yes." Mick groaned and arched into Josef's touch, as Josef's fingers encircled his hardness and began to stroke. "Wait…wait, stop," Mick suddenly covered Josef's hand with his own, "don't, you'll make me come if you keep that up."

"Well that was the general idea, Mick." Josef snorted a bemused laugh, and carefully pried Mick's hand away from his.

Josef picked up the pace then, his grip becoming a little firmer, the movements of his hand up and down Mick's shaft increasing with every passing stroke. He stroked his thumb over the head of Mick's cock, and grinned with self satisfaction when he heard Mick whimper in response.

"I know," Mick tried to stammer out a reply in-between breathless moans, and staccato pants of pleasure, "It's just…not like this, I want you in…"

Mick didn't need to finish, Josef had already pre-empted the rest of Mick's words.

_I want you inside me when I come. _

"That can be arranged." Josef whispered dark delight, his breath fanning hot and inviting against the side of Mick's face.

And then Josef's hand was pressing into the small of Mick's back, spurring him forward, face down across the stainless steel of the kitchen sink. And Josef's other hand was reaching for the bottle of cooking oil kept nearby, his own cock being slicked with a quick application of the viscous substance.

"Oh, Jesus, Fuck!" Mick cried out, and grabbed for Josef's wrist, sinking fangs into flesh as his orgasm swept through him the moment he felt Josef's cock penetrate his space.

"That was quick." Josef laughed, and waited for the last residual pulses of Mick's climax to be spent, before starting a short, hard rhythm of withdrawing just enough to slam back into Mick's passage, hard, getting harder, his hand reaching underneath Mick's body to take hold of Mick's cock, fingers gripping, hand stroking back and forth over Mick's length, the pace building frenetically.

Josef bought Mick over the edge a second time, reveling in the sensation of Mick's fangs biting into the flesh of his hand once again as Mick shuddered, and snarled beneath him.

Mick felt Josef withdraw, and stood up. He turned to face Josef, and began to draw his arms around Josef's neck, intent on reveling in a moment of post coital embrace.

Josef had other ideas. Using the weight of his body pressed against Mick's, he began to manoeuvre Mick over to the kitchen table.

And then Mick found himself pushed backwards onto the laminated surface, his legs hooked over Josef's shoulders. And Josef's cock was pressed up inside him once more. Penetrating Mick's arse with one swift, hard thrust, Josef began to pound into him, driving himself towards his own conclusion.

"Don't stop." Mick reached up to draw Josef's face towards his, lips seeking heated contact as he covered Josef's mouth with his own.

Josef broke the kiss, and let out a burst of laughter. Christ, he couldn't stop now if Auguste Vasilescu himself was in the room barking orders at him. He gripped Mick's hips for leverage and began slamming into him at a desperate pace, teeth clenched and head thrown back. Somewhere off in the haze of his own pleasure, Josef was vaguely aware of Mick stroking his own cock in time to the rhythm of their coupling. Mick's voice chanted heated commands, urging Josef on.

"Oh, Jesus, Mick…Christ, Fuck." Josef thrust into Mick one last time, and then fell forward. Sinking his fangs into Mick's neck as his own orgasm overtook him, Josef felt Mick's arms drawing around his neck, holding tight. Mick's own fangs dug deep into the flesh of Josef's shoulder, his cock pulsating between them, slicking their torsos pressed together with hot wet pulses of semen.

"Hey...What the…Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Breath still ragged, both still riding the last remaining high of their shared pleasure, Josef and Mick turned heads to be confronted by a stunned faced Roisin standing in the arched entrance of the kitchen, staring down at them in wide eyed disbelief.

Roisin clapped a hand over her eyes as her Uncles scrambled to make themselves decent.

"It's ok, you can look now." Mick's voice echoed sheepishly contrite in Roisin's ears. "Did you forget something for school?"

Mick couldn't think of any other reason for Roisin to have arrived home so unexpectedly. Right now she should have been sitting in a classroom staring dull faced at a blackboard in front of her.

"The kitchen table?" Ignoring Mick's question, Roisin stood in front of both her Uncles, hands on hips, and berated them unashamedly, "Are you fucking serious? I have to eat off that you know, how in the hell is that even remotely hygienic, Christ you cannot possibly be _that_ horny!"

Josef opened his mouth to say something, intent on pointing out the fact that Roisin ate off a plate, and not directly off the table itself. But then Mick was nudging his elbow into Josef's ribs, and bringing a halt to Josef's planned reply.

Josef at least had the decency to look apologetic as Roisin continued to rail at the both of them. Mick, on the other-hand, looked positively mortified.

Breaking off from her intended rant, Roisin suddenly threw a disgusted hand into the air, and then turned heel and began to stomp off upstairs to her room, pausing only to call back over her shoulder, "You owe me another ten years of Therapy for that."

"Oops," was all Josef could think of to say, once Roisin was out of their sight, before he burst out laughing.

"It's not funny, Josef."

Josef took one look at the thunder faced expression of disapproval on Mick's face, and dissolved into another fit of laughter.

I'm sorry," Josef reached for Mick, struggling to stifle another round of amusement, as he drew his arms around Mick's waist, "no, really, I'm sorry. You're right, that wasn't funny."

"Well, yeah, alright," Mick drew his own arms around Josef's neck, and made a reluctant admittance as he held Josef close, "it was pretty funny."

"Actually I thought it was bloody hilarious, Mick," Josef leant back in Mick's arms and grinned unabashed, "but don't tell Roisin I said that."

"I don't think there's any chance of that, Josef." Mick chuckled, and placed an affectionate kiss on Josef's lips.

"Come on, let's just go upstairs," Josef disengaged himself from Mick's embrace, and reached down to take hold of Mick's hand, "we can clean up down here for her majesty's satisfaction later."

Josef accompanied his words with an overly extravagant, scraping bow.

"You really are incorrigible sometimes, Josef. You know that, don't you?" Mick shook his head, and raised his eyes skyward, his attempt at indignation being lost in the grin that was forming over his features.

"Incorrigible?" Josef arched an eyebrow, and pretended to look positively impressed as he patted the side of Mick's face with a patronising hand, "Did you learn a new word, beloved."

"Oh shut up." Mick muttered a reply through clenched teeth, and tried to look stern. It wasn't working. Josef drew arms around Mick's waist once again, and pulled Mick back into another embrace.

"You still love me for it though, don't you?" Josef brushed his cheek against Mick's, and then purred in Mick's ear, a thrill of satisfaction passing through him when he felt the tremor that ran along Mick's spine at the sound.

"You know I do." Mick's words were partly swallowed by Josef's mouth seeking heated contact with his own.

"Say it." Josef drew Mick closer, his kisses becoming more insistent, hands starting to explore boundaries of flesh.

"I love you."

"Ditto."

_Talk to him now, you need to, stop putting it off. Just say what's on your mind, you're worried about him, and you need to talk. _

No, it still wasn't the right time. Mick ignored the voice in his head, and concentrated instead on the delicious feeling of Josef's hardening cock pressed against his own, Josef's hands gripping his arse, his pelvis grinding against Mick's in slow, measured circles.

"We should argue more often," Mick groaned as Josef's movements became more insistent.

"We should," Josef snorted a laugh, the corners of his mouth drawing upwards in a salacious grin, "the makeup sex is almost worth it."

"Is that what this is?" Mick's breathing fell ragged, hips thrusting to meet Josef's own, the pace becoming increasingly frantic.

"Come on," Josef ignored Mick's words, and pressed his lips against Mick's ear then, repeating his previous direction, "come upstairs, I want to fuck your brains out."

And then Josef found himself suddenly needing to support the weight of Mick's body. As Mick sank sharp teeth into the soft flesh of Josef's throat, and the orgasm tore through him with enough unexpected force to leave him weak kneed, and trembling in its wake.

"Right," Mick struggled to catch his breath when it was over, forgetting for the moment that he didn't need to breathe, "Now you can take me upstairs."

"You need me to carry you?" Josef chortled with amusement. "Or were you planning on stopping off along the way for another impromptu orgasm, Mick?"

"Neither," Mick stepped away from Josef's embrace and arched a teasing eyebrow, "I'll see you up there."

And with that Mick took of running, straight up the stairs, headed for their room, certain that Josef was right behind him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slowly emerging from layers of rest, Mick turned his head, bleary eyed, towards the clock on the nightstand next to the bed. The display read 5.51 pm; he had been asleep with Josef draped over him alongside, for several hours.

Mick stroked absentminded fingers along the side of Josef's body, feeling the cool wetness of perspiration lightly diffused over Josef's skin. Mick's own flesh was sticky with not yet dried semen that slicked his abdomen, and coated his thighs, tangible evidence of their recent passion.

Remnants of sleep still clung to Mick's mind, and for a moment he felt a small thrill of fear when he noted an absence of rise and fall from Josef's chest. Sixty seven years he had woken up with Josef lying next to him, and yet he still couldn't help the fleeting panic that coursed through him, every now and then, when he realised Josef wasn't breathing. That is until his senses clicked, and he was able to recall that neither one of them breathed during their repose.

Mick wondered for a moment if the same thing ever happened to Josef. Did Josef too feel that same moment of disquiet when he first awoke, and saw that Mick's own body lacked signs of life, or was it something Josef had just grown use to? And if so, exactly how many centuries had it taken? Maybe it was something that had never bothered him, by all reports Josef had accepted his Vampiric nature far sooner than Mick.

"You're awake."

The sound of Josef's voice pulled Mick from his reverie.

"Mm-hmm." Mick murmured a non committal reply as Josef stirred next to him.

"How long were we asleep for?" Stifling a yawn, Josef opened his eyes, and stretched catlike for a moment.

"A few hours, not that long." Mick caressed a hand over Josef's skull, and brushed his fingers through Josef's hair. "It's just past six, we should probably think about getting up soon and seeing what Roisin wants for dinner."

Josef rolled his eyes and made a dismissive noise in the back of his throat. Right now he was far more interested in picking up where they had left off earlier in the day.

"I'm sure Katherine's already taking care of that," Josef shifted closer, pressing his body against Mick's, "so, am I forgiven?"

Josef's hand traced a casual path towards Mick's reawakening erection.

"Didn't we already establish that?" Mick turned his head towards Josef, brow scrunched, and expression pointed.

Josef's hand sought lower, moving away from Mick's cock, his fingers tracing circles over Mick's inner thighs, tickling him slightly. And then Josef's fingers were pressing against Mick's perineum, his index and forefinger pushing up into Mick's passage.

Mick moaned as Josef quickly located his prostate and began to stroke, hips rising and falling in rhythm with Josef's fingers as they twisted, and turned inside him. Josef could easily make him come doing this alone. Mick let his eyes fall shut, lips parted, and a grimace of pleasure crossing over his features.

"Is this hurting you?" Josef backed off his stimulations for a moment, brow furrowed slightly with concern.

"No, keep going." Mick shook his head, and bit down on his bottom lip, drawing two tiny drops of crimson with his fangs.

"You wouldn't tell me even if it was," Josef arched a pointed eyebrow, and stifled a laugh, before chasing the rivulets of blood that ran down Mick's chin with his tongue, "You have a masochistic streak, you know that, don't you?"

Mick didn't care what sort of streak Josef thought he had. He could already feel the first stirrings of orgasm moving up from the base of his spine, his cock lying rigid and heavy along his abdomen.

Mick moaned again and snaked a hand behind Josef's head, pressing Josef's face towards his, mouth and tongue seeking contact as the movements of Josef's fingers inside him became more insistent.

"Oh shit, I'm gonna come." Mick broke away from the kiss, and buried his face against the side of Josef's neck, "Don't stop."

And then Mick was arching his back, body drawn upwards by an invisible string, and muscles tensing as he fisted his cock, and began to pump his length furiously in time to Josef's fingers stroking faster, and faster inside him.

With a sudden rapidity of movement, Josef removed his hand and shifted over Mick, hooking Mick's legs over his shoulder and plunging his own length into Mick's body with one hard thrust.

"Oh, Fuck." Sinking his fangs into the top of Josef's shoulder, sharp edged teeth scraping against collar bone, Mick clutched Josef's back, and raised blood red welts along Josef's flesh with his fingernails, the orgasm ripping through him hard enough to blacken his vision, and leave him dizzied with pleasure.

"What?" Mick opened his eyes to see Josef grinning down at him, all pale skin, and red rimmed, cold blue eyes, the tips of his fangs pricking his bottom lip.

"Nothing." Josef grinned at him again, and then placed a hand underneath Mick's pelvis, raising the angle of Mick's hips, and began to pound into him. "Just wondering if you were awake yet, or not?"

Mick tried to form a quick witted reply, but his words were cut off by Josef's lips pressing against his own, his chest vibrating with the sensation of Josef growling into his mouth.

Josef thrust forward one final time, muscles tense and body trembling on a knife's edge. And then he was coming with a single, sharp cry of release, and sinking his own fangs deep into the side of Mick's neck, riding the crest of his own release.

"Come on," Josef quickly withdrew himself from Mick's passage when he was spent, and clambered somewhat awkwardly off the bed, tremors of orgasm still humming through him, leaving him feeling slightly weak kneed and giddy, "get up, and have a shower with me, and then get dressed. If Katherine hasn't already organised something, the four of us can find somewhere to have dinner tonight."

Without waiting to see if Mick was going to obey his direction, Josef sauntered off in the direction of the bathroom. Leaving Mick to lay back, one arm tucked under his head, and admire the view as he went.

Downstairs, Roisin sat at the table opposite her Mother and lit up a cigarette.

"Not in this house, you don't." Katherine snatched the cigarette from Roisin's lips and stubbed it out on a plate set in front of her, her voice radiating disapproval.

It was a habit Roisin had picked up six months ago, and Katherine made no secret of the fact that she hated her daughter smoking.

"Oh, but it's ok for me to come home and find them balls deep on the kitchen table, going at it like a pair of jack rabbits, is it?" Roisin turned her head, and jerked a thumb towards her Uncles coming down the stairs together.

"Roisin!" Katherine looked momentarily shocked at her daughter's frank words, and then turned to give Mick and Josef an accusing glare.

"What?" Josef arched a bemused eyebrow, and sat at the table next to Katherine, one leg stretched elegantly out in front of him. "It's not like we weren't expecting to have the house to ourselves for the day."

"Well obviously," Katherine gritted her teeth, and rolled her eyes impatiently, "but, the kitchen table? Josef, come on, how on god's green earth can that possibly be considered a good idea. Roisin has to eat off this table you know."

"Really?" Josef casually flicked his nails, pretended to look mildly amused, "I always thought she ate off a plate. Besides that, it wasn't my ass on the table."

"I'm having a drink," Mick suddenly announced as he leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair in his hurry to get away from the conversation unfolding, "would anyone else like one?"

"I'll have one," Josef caught Mick's hand as Mick went to rush past him, not having bothered to wait for anyone to reply to his offer, "Scotch, double with a chaser of blood, on the rocks."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, you."

Josef gripped Mick's wrist, and pulled Mick down onto his lap, much to Roisin's chagrin.

"Get a room." Roisin huffed and rolled her eyes at her Uncles sudden display of affection, Mick's prior embarrassment dissolving in a tangle of limbs and heated kisses. "No, wait," Roisin stood up and made an exaggerated display of clearing the table, "I'll just clear a space for you right here. Unless you'd prefer to just fuck on the floor, I'm sure Mum and I will manage to step around you."

"Roisin!" Katherine spluttered, and stared wide eyed incredulous at her daughter, "for God sake will you please stop using that sort of language."

"Sure," Roisin shrugged, and pretended to look perfectly innocent, "I'll stop using language like that, when Uncle Mick and Uncle Josef stop traumatising me with visions of…"

"…Roisin." Katherine let her voice slip into a low growl, warning her daughter she was on her last chance. She wasn't too young to be grounded, or to have certain privileges removed.

"Yeah, ok." Roisin quite wisely backed down then, resisting the urge to take one final parting shot at her Uncles, and offering them both a forced smile of contrition instead as she retook her seat.

"I'm curious, Roisin," Josef leant towards his young niece, elbow rested on the table, and hand propped under his chin as Mick removed himself from Josef's lap, and hurried off to finish fetching the drinks they were having, "Your Uncle Mick and I have been together for sixty seven years, for sixteen of those years, you're entire lifetime I might add, we've been married. You've always known this, we've never hidden the fact that we're a couple from you, so why does the idea that we might just be physically intimate with one another bother you so much."

"It doesn't," Roisin looked down at the table, and pretended to rub away an imaginary spot of dirt, "Not that much, I guess. It's just that…" Roisin chewed on her bottom lip and looked thoughtful for a moment, and then wrinkled her nose in an expression of distaste, "it's just that, if you and Uncle Mick weren't Vampires you'd be old by now, I mean really old, like old and decrepit old. It just seems kinda gross, sometimes, you know?"

"Roisin," Josef took a moment to clear his throat, and suppress the laugh that was threatening to burst forth from his lips, "if Uncle Mick and I weren't Vampires we'd be more than just old and decrepit, we'd be little more than dust and bones by now."

"Yeah, I know." Roisin smiled with reluctant admittance, feeling as if she were being backed into a corner.

Josef decided to let the matter drop then, accepting the drink Mick was offering to him upon his return, and taking a quick sip, before changing the topic at hand.

"You never did tell us what you were doing coming home from school unannounced like that, care to fill us in?"

Josef sat back in his chair and waited for Roisin to respond.

"I was picking up a book to show Mr Vasilescu. I was telling him about some of the stuff we were studying at school, and he wanted to know more."

Judging by the sudden sharp intakes of breath from around the table, it was clear that none of them were expecting that reply.

Roisin sank down into her seat, feeling as if she wanted to crawl under the table and hide as the atmosphere in the room shifted, becoming dark and thick with tension.

"Roisin?" Katherine placed a concerned hand on her daughter's arm, her expression fearful and uncertain. "What on earth does someone like Auguste Vasilescu want with a teenage girl like you? Do you know sweetheart, can you tell us?"

Roisin looked around the room, noting the expressions on each of their faces; their eyes seemed to bore into her, waiting for her next response. All, that is, except her Uncle Mick. His own expressions seemed wholly focused on Josef, as if he were expecting to have to stop him from doing something rash at any given moment.

"He doesn't want anything from me." When Roisin finally spoke, her voice sounded small and plaintive in the heavy air of the room. "He's walked me to school a couple of times; that's all..."

"…You keep away from him, Roisin." Josef was suddenly on his feet, both hands laid flat on the table, leaning towards his niece with eyes flashed to pale blue, and fangs bared.

Roisin visibly recoiled at the sight of her Uncle's terrifying visage looming over her.

Taking a moment to suppress the rising tide of anger that threatened to overwhelm him, Josef turned heel and strode from the room without saying another word.

As far as Josef was concerned, the matter was closed. And dinner for the evening was now out of the question.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** This is the last chapter (plus epilogue) of this particular part of the story. It will be continuing on in another installment of the series.

**Specific Chapter Warning**: for attempted non consensual sex act.

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Josef leant into the freezer and prodded Mick with a sharpened finger.

"Come on, get up. It's time to walk Roisin to school."

Mick, wrenched suddenly from the near unconscious sleep of the Vampire, took a moment to find his bearings, and then clambered out of the icy receptacle. Still somewhat bleary eyed, he made his way towards the bathroom, and let the water from the shower beat over him, washing away the last remaining dregs of sleep still clinging to his form.

That part of the morning ritual complete, Mick towelled him-self dry, and headed into the bedroom. There he stood watch as Josef rifled through his wardrobe, considering, and then disregarding a number of outfits, before he found what he was looking for.

"You're wearing that, put it on." Josef bundled his choice of Mick's attire for the day, into Mick's arms, lips drawn in the parody of a smile.

"Josef…"

"What?" Josef shot Mick a look that could have frozen fire.

"Nothing," Mick forced a smile of his own, and leant in to give Josef a quick kiss, "it's ah…it's a good choice of outfit, thanks."

Things had been this way for over a month. Ever since the night Roisin had inadvertently revealed Auguste Vasilescu had walked her to school on occasion, Josef had unofficially declared himself to be the Sovereign Lord and Master of the house, and all who resided therein. And he ruled with an iron fist.

In times past, there had been a number of occasions where Mick had reason to be fearful of Josef, but never had he truly felt afraid of him. Now though, now he wasn't so sure if afraid was even strong enough a word. Josef's descent into the maelstrom had Mick terrified, and the rest of the house walking on eggshells. Lest they trip and set off the ticking time bomb that currently walked amongst them.

"Mick?" Josef's voice, cold and demanding, broke through Mick's private train of thought, "You want to try hurrying it along? I don't want Roisin leaving without us."

Mick tried to think of a suitable response, and then decided the best response was also the safest one, obedient silence.

"So, am I allowed to walk to school by myself tomorrow," Roisin folded her arms across her chest, and stuck out her chin in an expression of teenage defiance, when they reached the gates, "or am I still in the witness protection program?"

"It's for your own good Roisin." Josef's flat toned reply settled the matter, at least as far as he was concerned. He locked a stern gaze on his young niece, and then smiled when he saw her change in demeanour. Her arms were no longer folded across her chest, but hanging loosely by her side, her eyes downcast.

"Uncle Josef's right sweetheart," Mick decided to try and placate two birds with one reassurance, "until all this stuff is sorted out with the Legion, it's best that at least one of us escorts you to school. We just don't want anything happening to you, ok?"

"Yeah, I know." Roisin's forced smile reply was a clear indication that she knew as well as Mick did, that wasn't the main reason for the sudden need for a security detail to follow her almost every move. "I guess I'll see you after school then?" Roisin pretended to huff and roll her eyes, but the smile on her face was genuine as she stepped forward and embraced her Uncle.

"What, don't I get a hug goodbye as well?" Josef cocked his head, and tried to arch a teasing eyebrow, but the hurt behind the facade was evident.

Roisin hesitated, taking a step back and regarding Josef with a wary eye. Until she saw the encouraging smile on Mick's face, and the quick, reassuring nod he had given her.

"Goodbye, Uncle Josef." Roisin's embrace felt awkward and stiff, almost robotic in its absence of feeling.

And then she was gone, striding away from them towards the main doors of the school without as much as a backwards glance.

"Mick," Josef watched after Roisin's retreating form, "Roisin's afraid of me."

Josef seemed genuinely bewildered at that realisation.

"Well of course she's afraid of you Josef, we're all damn well afraid of you right now, considering the fact that you're basically losing the plot. And none of us knows if and when you're going to disintegrate completely. We're afraid of you, and we're afraid for you, and I honestly don't know which is worse?"

"She's just being a teenager," Mick kept his thoughts to himself, and tried to offer his reassurances instead, for all the good he figured they would do, "they get like that some times, you know. I'm sure next week it'll be my turn in the firing line."

Mick's answer seemed to satisfy Josef for the moment. Taking Mick by the hand, Josef began to lead the both of them off up the street together, heading for home.

A few blocks away, Josef suddenly stopped in his tracks, and grabbed Mick by the shoulders, spinning Mick around to face him.

"You do know I love you, don't you?" Josef searched Mick's face in earnest.

"Yes, Josef, you love me. No matter how insane you might be, at any given time, that's the one constant I know I can always count on. You love me." Mick thought wryly.

"Mick," Josef's previously forlorn expression rapidly shifted to the icy, commanding tone that Mick had come to know, and hate, so well over the past weeks, and days, "when I address you, I expect you to answer me."

"I'm sorry, I was…I love you too."

Mick didn't know what else to say.

"So where's his lord high majesty this evening?" Katherine's tone was pointed as she took a seat next to Mick on the couch, and handed him a generous measure of Scotch, mixed with a chaser of blood.

"Gone to the blood bank for supplies." Mick accepted the drink gratefully, and took a hefty swig, before placing the glass down on the table in front of him, and running a weary hand across his forehead.

"Mick," the concern in Katherine's voice was evident; one hand resting gently on Mick's shoulder, "you can't continue on like this. None of us can."

"I know, Katherine," Mick reached for the tumbler of Scotch and downed another few quick mouthfuls, "I know, ok."

"Well, then what are you planning to do about it?" There was no recrimination in Katherine's tone, just a soft Irish lilt of genuine solicitude.

Mick let out a reluctant breath, and swallowed back a rising tide of emotion along with the remainder of Scotch, "I don't know, I honestly just don't know?" Mick snorted a wry laugh then, "Not much of a plan, got any brilliant schemes of your own you'd like to share?"

"Well I was going to say you could try talking to him, but…"

"…that didn't go so well last time."

"No, no it didn't."

They both fell silent for a moment, remembering Katherine's initial attempt at approaching Josef about the 'problems' he seemed to be having of late. Several dinner plates hurled against the wall, along with an accompanying chorus of furious snarls, and barely decipherable ramblings, roughly translated to, "Fuck off, and leave me alone," later, Katherine had wisely decided the matter was best dropped, for the time being at least.

"Well if you do think of anything…" Mick shrugged helplessly, and let his voice trail off.

"You'll be the first to know, I promise. And if not, I'm sure things will work themselves out, eventually." Katherine tried her best to convey a far greater sense of certainty than what either of them actually felt; wanting to offer Mick whatever reassurances she could.

"I hope so." Mick forced a smile, and then stood up. "I should probably head off to bed. Josef will be expecting me up there, ready and waiting for him, when he gets home."

The not so subtle roll of his eyes, and the overall expression that crossed his face, clearly told of Mick's reluctance to have anything to do with that particular scenario, not at this moment in time at least.

"Wow," Katherine arched a teasing eyebrow, and tried to make light of the situation, "either one of you not being keen on the idea of swinging from the rafters at a moment's notice, things must be serious?"

Mick went to say something then, something about 'swinging from the rafters he could handle, it was more the fact that Josef had taken to being just as controlling in bed as he had been out of it, of late. And not in the good, hot, and heavy, 'fuck me 'till I scream kind' of way either.

Biting back the words formed on his lips, Mick forced a mirthless laugh instead, and then bid Katherine a final goodnight, before turning to take his leave.

"Mick?" Katherine called out after Mick's dejected looking form, just as Mick reached the bottom of the staircase, "If it's any consolation, Josef does love you. I know he's gone off the rails of late, but…"

"…he still loves me." Mick nodded his acquiesce, and tried to muster a smile. "Yeah, I know he does, "Mick's smile quickly changed to a grimace of pain, "and that's what makes this whole damn thing all the more difficult."

"Oh, why's that?" Katherine tried to keep her tone casual; hoping the nervous quiver in her voice would go unnoticed.

"Because the feeling's still mutual, and right now I want to hate him, and I just can't."

There really wasn't anything more either one of them could say at that point. Muttering another quick 'goodnight', Mick turned and began his ascent up the stairs. Looking for all the world like a condemned man, heading for his final appointment with the hangman's noose.

------------------------------------------

"Heya, Drac'."

Roisin grinned, and stifled a laugh as she watched Auguste approach. Dressed in black jeans, and a simple black sweater, Roisin assumed he was trying to affect a more casual look in order to blend into the crowd. The alabaster paleness of his skin, aquiline nose, and razor sharp high cheekbones, made that next to impossible. He looked, and moved like ancient royalty.

"Is it safe?" Hands in pockets, Auguste arched a questioning brow, and waited for Roisin to respond.

"Yeah," Roisin stifled another laugh, and gestured for Auguste to sit down, "Uncle Josef doesn't check up on me at lunchtime."

Auguste smiled graciously, and then took a seat on the bench next to Roisin. "What?" He asked, when he saw the studious look she was giving him.

"Nothing, it's just that…" Roisin furrowed her brow, and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, "I've never seen anyone move like you do. Everything you do always looks so fluid, and graceful." Lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper Roisin pretended to look around, checking to see who else might be privy to their conversation, and then added, "Don't tell Uncle Josef I said this, but you make him look clumsy in comparison."

"Don't worry," Auguste let out a burst of rich laughter, and then pressed his finger against his lips, "I won't utter a word. And your Uncle will probably move like this when he's my age as well, you have to remember, he is only four hundred and seventy five."

Roisin looked momentarily taken aback. She remembered how she had felt when she had first learnt of her Uncle's true age. Now here was a man quite calmly stating that her Uncle Josef was_ only_ four hundred and seventy five years old, as if that made him a mere babe in the woods.

"You know," Roisin's expression fell curious, "you never have told me exactly how old you are?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"Well, you look like you're about twenty three…"

"…close, I was a man of twenty when I was turned. So in that respect, I am younger than your Uncle."

Roisin studied the form of the man seated next to her with a discerning eye, "I know you're a lot older than Uncle Josef in Vampire years, so I would say you're …" she paused, and quickly calculated her approximation, "nine hundred years old."

"Seventeen hundred and fifty two, actually."

"Wow." For a moment Roisin felt her equilibrium slipping away. Auguste held out a steadying hand towards her. She brushed him off, "No, I'm fine. It's just a bit of a shock to hear someone say they're more than seventeen hundred years old, I mean that's way over a thousand."

"I can imagine it would be." Auguste nodded his understanding, and then changed the subject. "So how are things at home, with your Uncle Josef I mean?"

"Well, you know, it's…" For a moment Roisin looked reluctant to answer Auguste's question, "…it's, about the same as it what it was," she finished with a forced smile, and a dismissive wave of her hand.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Auguste tilted his head, and stroked comforting fingers through Roisin's hair.

"I know what they do to Vampire's who lose control of themselves." Roisin's snapped tone reply brimmed with concern, and fear for her Uncle's fate if things continued on the way they had been. Or, god forbid, got any worse.

"Roisin, look at me," Auguste placed a hand under Roisin's chin and turned her gaze towards his, "nothing happens in the Vampire world without my knowledge, or approval. So I give you my word as a gentleman, I will never let that happen to your Uncle Josef, ok?"

Roisin let out a relieved breath, and then shoved the text book on the table in front of her toward Auguste. "Ok Mr Millenia," she grinned, "you can help me with my homework. We're studying the life of Charlemagne. You probably knew him."

"Not personally, no." Auguste laughed, and then placed a hand on Roisin's arm. "I'll help you with your homework in a moment, there's something I'd like to talk to you about first."

And then Roisin sat in studied silence, as Auguste began to outline his plans to her.

Mick leant against the banister at the top of the staircase, and surveyed the scene below. Roisin had been escorted home from school a little over an hour ago, and Josef had decided they were to dine out that evening.

Josef sat on the sofa, Katherine and Roisin seated on chairs nearby. A tune Mick recognised as the beginning refrains of Cat's Squirrel by Cream blasted from the stereo at high volume. Mick smiled to himself in fond remembrance of the time, back in the sixties, when he had managed to drag Josef along to one of their concerts. Of course they were just friends back in those days, and Josef had protested loudly that he wasn't going to enjoy himself at that 'sort of a concert', right up until the band had come on stage and started to play.

Mick shook his head briefly, pulling himself out of his momentary trip down memory lane. He had more important things to think about. Like dealing with Josef's reaction to the fact that he wasn't wearing the shirt he had been instructed to.

He drew an unneeded breath to steady himself, and then made his way downstairs.

"You ready to go?" Mick tried to affect an encouraging tone as he looked at Josef. Josef's hands lay clutched in his lap, tapping out a distracted beat. It almost seemed to Mick, as if he were wringing his hands in time to the music.

"Mick?" Josef turned and shot Mick a disapproving look, "why are you wearing that shirt. I thought I told you to wear the blue one, it goes better with the pants I picked out for you."

"I know, ok," Mick held up his hands in a placating gesture, "I put it on, there's a stain down the front of it…"

"…then why wasn't it sent out with the last load of laundry?" Josef stood up, and shifted towards Mick, his expression still couched in disapproval.

"I don't know, maybe it was missed?" Mick shrugged, still trying to keep his voice light as he instinctively took a step back from Josef's approaching form. "This shirt is still blue though."

Mick's forced smile, and further attempt at mustering the most encouraging tone he could manage, was halted by the sound of Josef growling as he continued to move towards him.

"Take it off, and put the shirt on I told you to wear." Josef's words were as measured as his movements.

"Josef…"

'Roisin," Katherine called her daughter over to her side, as she watched the scene unfolding before her with increasing concern, "come over here to me, sweetheart."

"Mick," Josef drew back his lips in the parody of a smile, and then repeated his previous instruction, "take_ that_ shirt off, and put the shirt on I told you to wear."

"Josef," Mick continued to back away, sensing the inexorable rise of tension in the room, "the shirt you picked out for me is dirty…"

"…I don't care, Mick. It's the shirt I want you to wear."

"Josef, this is ridiculous," Mick had had enough. He threw up his hands in frustrated disgust, "just stop, alright, please. For fuck sake there is nothing wrong with the shirt I'm wearing."

The instant those words left Mick's lips, he knew he had made a mistake. Josef descended on him. Fangs bared and snarling with blind fury, he knocked Mick to the ground and tore the offending shirt from his body.

The sounds of Cream still blaring from the stereo provided a crazed backdrop to the struggle that ensued. Josef's hands went around Mick's throat, and for a moment Mick forgot that he didn't have to breathe as Josef began to throttle him, and slam Mick's head repeatedly against the tiled floor beneath.

"Uncle Josef, stop it, you're hurting him." Roisin's terrified cries reached Mick's ears, as Katherine desperately tried to shield her daughter from what was unfolding before them.

And then Mick found himself flipped over onto his stomach, his jeans being torn from him the same way his shirt had been…  
_  
__"Oh Christ, he wouldn't, not in front of Roisin…" _

With a sudden, horrified sense of realisation, Mick knew that's exactly what Josef intended.

"Josef, stop…" Mick began to fight back with renewed vigour. His strength fuelled by the image of Roisin being forced to bear witness to such an act as Josef howled on top of him, teeth and nails ripping at already torn shreds of clothing.

"I said, stop it!" With a strength, and speed she didn't know she possessed, Roisin broke away from her Mother's protective embrace, and launched herself at her Uncle. A bottle of Scotch collected from the coffee table along the way in hand. She swung the glass vessel as hard as she could and smashed it against the back of Josef's head.

It had the desired effect. The force of the blow, and the sound of shattering glass as the bottle broke against his skull, stunned Josef just enough for Mick to make his escape.

Josef turned towards his niece, a furious expression etched deep across his face. For a moment it looked as if he were going to come at her. And then he was gone, the front door torn from its hinges as he took of running, into the night.

"Mick, where the hell are you going?" Katherine watched as Mick fled upstairs, and then returned just as quickly, still pulling on shoes, and doing up buttons of garments

"Where do you think I'm going?" Mick grabbed his Jacket from the coat stand, and slung it over his shoulders. "After him," he gestured a thumb towards the doorway, left gaping in Josef's wake, "before he does anything crazy."

Almost in spite of herself, Katherine laughed at the bitter irony of Mick's words.

"Mick?"

Mick paused at the threshold, and turned briefly towards Katherine, "What?"

"Just…be careful, alright?"

"Don't worry, I will be." And then he too was gone, taking off into the night, running after a four hundred and seventy five year old, insane Vampire he sometimes called 'husband'.

Less than an hour later, a still shaken Roisin sat on her bed upstairs and sent a simple message to the number Auguste had given her earlier that day.  
_  
__Have considered your offer. Answer is yes._

_-----------------------------------------------------------_

It didn't take long for Mick to track Josef's whereabouts, all he had to do was scent the blood on the air, and follow the trail of destruction Josef had left in his wake.

He found Josef seated in the middle of a pew, at the back of a Cathedral, several kilometers away. Mick slipped in quietly next to him, maintaining a cautious distance, the memory of Josef's attack still fresh.

"I had a party." Josef turned to Mick, and gestured towards the splatters of blood on his face and clothes. There was no humour in his voice.

"I can see that." Mick smiled, and shifted closer when he knew for certain that Josef no longer posed any threat to him. Removing a handkerchief from his pocket, Mick quickly wiped the smeared droplets of blood from Josef's face, and then removed his coat and wrapped it around Josef's shoulders, covering the blood stains on Josef's own clothing.

"Mick?" Josef furrowed his brow, and looked pensive for a moment, "You know, I really don't think I'm alright just at the moment."

Despite the clarity of Josef's statement, his voice held a note of bewilderment. As if the realisation of that fact had genuinely taken him by surprise.

"Yeah, I think your acting days are over." Mick tried to force a brief laugh, one that came out sounding more like he was choking back the threat of tears, and then drew an arm around Josef's shoulders.

"Damn," Josef forced a laugh of his own, the smallest shadow of his usual cutting wit creeping into his voice, "and I was so hoping I could stage a comeback."

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Mick found himself laughing genuinely then, more from sheer relief at hearing Josef's note of sarcasm, no matter how slight it had been.

"Yeah, I know you did." Mick's expression fell serious again, as he brushed his fingers through Josef's hair, and pressed his lips against Josef's temple. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Josef let out a reluctant sigh of admittance, and nestled further into Mick's embrace, "right now though I'd just like to sit here a while. Will you stay with me?"

"Josef," Mick knew there was more to Josef's question than just his remaining with him in the here and now, "why do you always assume I'm going to leave you?"

"Because when you get to my age, everyone leaves you eventually," Josef's voice sounded lost in the quiet of their surroundings, "even those who aren't supposed to."

Mick considered Josef's words for a moment, "Would you marry me again, if you had to?"

Josef hadn't been expecting that particular question. It took him a moment to answer.

"I'd marry you again even if I didn't have to."

"Well then why don't we, get married again I mean," Mick was trying to offer the best assurance he could think of. "When this is all over, we should renew our vows."

"I'd like that." As small as it was, Mick got the most genuine smile from Josef he'd seen in a long while. And then Josef was suddenly pulling away, reeling back with a horrified look on his face. "I hurt you, didn't I?"

"You don't remember?" Mick's own expression was etched in concern.

"No, I mean…bits and pieces, flashes…" Josef sounded increasingly panicked.

Mick was torn between pretense, and then facing the potential consequences when the full weight of realisation came crashing in, or telling Josef the truth outright.

He chose the latter. Deciding the time for pretending everything was ok, and Josef's increasingly erratic behaviour could just be swept under the carpet and forgotten about, was now well and truly over.

"You," Mick paused for a moment and steadied his voice, "attacked, and tried to rape me in front of Katherine, and Roisin."

As he watched the last vestiges of Josef's equilibrium slip away, Mick knew then he'd just made his second mistake for the evening.

_Christ, what the hell was wrong with him. He used to know how to handle Josef, why the fuck was he messing everything up so badly now?_

"Josef...Josef for fuck sake, stop…" And then once more Mick found himself having to give chase, as Josef fled from the Church.

Mick caught up just in time to witness his husband run straight into the path of an oncoming truck, the sickening sound of bone being shattered by screeching metal filling the night air.

In a flash Mick covered the distance to where Josef lay, and scooped him into his arms, fleeing the scene before the driver had a chance to register what he had just hit wasn't some sort of stray animal.

A safe distance away, removed from prying eyes, Mick carefully laid Josef back down, and began straightening broken limbs bent at sickening angles. As gentle as Mick was trying to be, Josef still shook with pain as his shattered body slowly mended.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Shock finally gave way to blind anger as Mick suddenly grabbed a now completely healed Josef by the scruff of the neck, and roared at him furiously, "What the fuck are you trying to do to yourself? Have you gone completely fucking insane?"

Seeing the wounded look on Josef's face, Mick's anger dissipated almost instantly. Making contrite declarations of love, and reassurance he sat Josef against a nearby wall, and kissed his hands and face repeatedly.

"Mick?" Josef ducked, and weaved, trying to avoid the onslaught of incoming kisses.

"What, what is it?" Mick brushed the back of concerned fingers along the line of Josef's jaw.

"You're slobbering on me."

"I'm sorry," Mick laughed, and then pressed his forehead against Josef's, "Can we just get out of here now, please?"

Without waiting for an answer, Mick stood up and pulled Josef to his feet with him.

And then he was taking an unresisting Josef by the hand, and leading him back through darkened streets. Heading for a place they called 'home'.

They were greeted upon arrival by a panic stricken Katherine, a wad of tissues bunched in her hand.

"Mick," Katherine's voice trembled as she spoke, "Pierre's here, with Auguste. He wants to speak to Josef, right now. They know what's gone on. Apparently the Cleaners have been inundated with calls all night."

"Shit…" Mick scrubbed his hands over his face, and rubbed the pads of his fingers over his temples in small, worried circles.

"Pierre assures me that Josef isn't in any danger from either of them, but…"

"Right," Mick didn't want to hear anymore. He couldn't think of the 'what ifs' right now. "Take him," Mick gestured toward the dejected looking form slumped in the frame of the doorway with eyes downcast, "upstairs, and give him some of the rest of that Nembutal that was left over from before. I'll handle Auguste."

Confident that Katherine would obey his instruction, Mick turned heel and strode towards the room where Pierre and Auguste awaited.

"You're not Josef Kostan?" A glass of Scotch dangling from his hand, Auguste arched a bemused eyebrow at the sight of a determined looking Mick St John, bursting through the door.

"No, I'm not." Mick smiled, and gave a respectful nod, waiting with hands folded for Auguste to invite him to be seated.

Auguste regarded Mick for a brief moment, and then nodded his approval as he gestured towards the chair in front of him.

"Mick…"

"Before you say anything," Mick held up a hand, and cut Auguste's words off as politely as possible, "know this. Whatever you have decided to do with Josef, you will also be consigning me to the same fate."

"He won't go into the fray alone then?" Auguste arched another bemused eyebrow at Mick, and then once again nodded his approval. "A very gallant sentiment of course, but one that isn't necessary. I've already given my word that no harm will come to Josef, none that he hasn't already done to himself at least."

"Thank you." Mick slumped with relief. And then he was gratefully accepting a generous measure of Scotch

"You look like you could use a stiff drink." Auguste pressed the tumbler into Mick's hand, and then sat back. "You know, believe it or not, I actually like you, St John. You're intelligent, and spirited, and you have a healthy level of disrespect for authority. But, unlike your wayward husband…"

"I know where to draw the line?" Mick finished helpfully, a mirthless laugh bubbling from his lips. "Not always."

"Well I'd hazard a guess you probably know better where the line should be drawn, even if you do step over it on occasion." Auguste smiled, and tilted his own glass towards Mick in the gesture of a toast. "We all have our bad days," Mick knew Auguste was referring to Josef then, "sometimes those bad days stretch into bad months, or even bad years. We're not in the habit of ordering the destruction of one of our own simply because they happen to be having a 'bad day'."

"Thank…"

"But," Auguste held up an instructive finger, and waited until he was certain he had Mick's undivided attention, "I expect you to look after him, and make sure he doesn't do anything else as ill advised as what occurred tonight."

"I won't…I mean I will, I mean…I can take care of Josef."

"I'm sure you can," Auguste noted the determined look on Mick's face, "as a matter of fact, I'd hazard a guess that you've had more than enough practice over the years."

"Yeah, well, it was usually the other way around," Mick admitted with a dismissive laugh, "he's the one who's always taken care of me. I'm just returning a long overdue favour."

"Well," Auguste tented his fingers and looked thoughtful, "perhaps you've just taken care of one another."

"Yeah," Mick nodded and forced a wan smile, exhaustion setting in, "yeah, we have."

The conversation ended there.

"I'll see myself out then, shall I?"

Without waiting for a response, Auguste stood and began making his way towards the front door, still hanging from its hinges, with an obedient looking Pierre Lamont in tow.

Outside, Auguste passed a crumple faced Roisin, looking forlorn as she sat on the front steps taking sharp draws from a lit cigarette.

"Mr Vasilescu." Roisin crunched the cigarette under her heel, and stood up.

'What," Auguste stifled a laugh at Roisin's sudden attentive, and respectful manner. "No "Count Dracula' this evening?"

"I thought you were here on official business, so…" Roisin looked at the ground, and circled a sheepish foot over the stone pathway beneath her.

"I was," Auguste reached out and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, "I'm off duty now. And don't worry, I kept my promise. Your Uncle is going to be ok, eventually."

"I hate them." Roisin suddenly blurted out with a viciousness that took even Auguste Vasilescu aback momentarily.

"You don't mean…"

"…What? No, not my family…them," Roisin jabbed an angry finger out in front of her, "The Legends, or whatever the fuck it is they call themselves."

"The Legion?"

"Yeah, those piss-ant fucks."

Again, Auguste found himself having to stifle another laugh, as he listened to the distinct note of Irish fire creeping into Roisin's voice.

"Yes, well," Auguste cleared his throat, and took a moment to steady his voice. "We'll take care of those 'piss-ant fucks', won't we?"

"You just say the word, Count Dracula…and I'm there."

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Another gift?" Katherine pointed to the very new; and very expensive looking watch on Mick's wrist.

"Yeah," Mick nodded and forced a smile, his fingers stroking the leather wristband, "it's a vintage Rolex."

"You know if he buys you much more in the way of jewellery you're going to start to look like the Vamp equivalent of Liberace," Katherine snorted a wry laugh, and took a seat at the kitchen table next to Mick, "Here, drink this."

Mick accepted the glass of blood being pressed into his hand, and downed its contents in a few swift mouthfuls.

"Thanks," Mick forced another smile, before placing the glass back down on the table, and getting to his feet. A brief explanation muttered under his breath, to no one in particular, "I should go see how he is."

"And how has he been?" Katherine rose from her own chair and reached for Mick's arm, halting his leaving.

"He's been…" for a moment it looked as if Mick were going to make light of the situation, a dismissive phrase formed on his lips. And then Katherine watched as Mick's shoulders fell, and he turned to face her, his expression etched with weary concern. "He's still fragile."

Mick couldn't think of a better word to describe Josef's current condition. Some days were better than others. To the casual observer, Josef appeared to be holding it together, or at least that's the image he seemed almost desperate to convey. Mick had long seen through the charade though.

"And how are you?" Katherine shifted her hand up to Mick's shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"About the same," Mick gave a mirthless laugh, and allowed Katherine to draw him into a brief embrace.

"You'll get there." Katherine stroked a quick hand over Mick's head rested against her shoulder, and then felt Mick disengage himself from her hold.

"Yeah, I know." Mick scrubbed the back of his hand over his eyes, and wiped away the threat of tears, before setting his mouth into a grim line of determination. It only served to make his expression look more pained than what it already was. "I really need to go see how he is now, ok?"

Without waiting for a response, Mick dismissed any further concerns from Katherine with yet another forced smile, and then turned to walk away. Leaving Katherine to watch after his retreating form, her brow furrowed with concern.

"What are you doing?"

Upstairs, Mick leant against the doorway to Josef's office, and regarded the image of his husband; hunch shouldered, and locked focus on an array of computer screens before him.

"What, nothing, I'm fine." Josef's expression bore a distinctly guilty edge, a glass of blood next to his hand almost knocked flying in his haste to shut down the screen nearest to him.

"Josef." Mick shook his head, and raised his eyes skyward for a moment. He didn't need to be told what Josef was up to. The only question that remained was…  
_  
__What the hell have you bought me this time?_

Affecting a determined air, Mick strode over to where Josef sat, and flicked the screen back on. Leaning over the back of Josef's chair, one arm draped over Josef's shoulder, Mick quickly scanned the contents of the display in front of him.

"A Guitar?" Shooting Josef a sideways look, Mick scrunched his brow in a mark of disapproval, and then scrubbed frustrated hands over his face. "Josef, what the hell do I need with a Guitar? I haven't even so much as picked one up in almost a hundred years."

The Guitar in question wasn't just any Guitar. It was a Robert Johnson Original, rare as hen's teeth, with a price tag to match.

"I know," Josef shrugged, and pulled an unresisting Mick onto his lap, "but if you ever happen to have the urge to start playing again, now you'll actually have something to play with, won't you. Besides that, it's not like I can't afford it."

_"The world according to Josef Kostan, I am wealthy therefore I spend."_ Mick thought as he inwardly shook his head.

Out loud he answered with a barely disguised admonishment of, "You know if you keep spending the way you have been lately, you won't have any money left. And then what?"

"And then we'll live on the streets, and dress in rags, and I'll shower you with love instead," Josef trailed a faux extravagant hand through the air in front of him, "sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," Mick shot back with mock derision, before shifting his voice to a more serious tone, "I'd rather you did that anyway."

"What," Josef cocked his head and raised a devilish eyebrow at Mick's words, "dressed us in rags and sent us out to live on the streets?"

"No, you idiot," Mick snorted a laugh and moved to sit astride Josef's lap, "I meant showering me with love, instead of all these expensive gifts you keep buying."

"But I like buying you expensive gifts, Mick."

Josef's voice suddenly sounded very small and plaintive against the constant backdrop of hum of the computer terminals, and for a moment Mick couldn't help but think how much of a child Josef could sound at times. Albeit a very old, very strong, and very willful child, who could be as forthrightly stubborn as anyone Mick had ever known, when it came to steadfastly refusing to do as he was told.

"I know you do," Mick leant forward, and rested his forehead against Josef's, "it's just…you don't have to do it, that's all."

Mick's attempt at adopting a casual tone, of not making it sound like he was pushing the issue too far, was met by an indignant snapped reply, "I know I don't _have_ to do it, Mick. I want to do it…"

_Stubborn, so very damn stubborn._

"…and don't call me an idiot."

"What, are you gonna stomp your foot and pout now too?" Mick reared back, hands on hips, and one eyebrow cocked in a teasing expression.

For a second it seemed as if Josef wasn't going to get the joke. And then he was rolling his eyes with all the righteous indignation he could muster, and mumbling the word 'asshole' under his breath. One hand pressed against the back of Mick's skull, drawing Mick close, the other reaching down to fumble with belt buckle, and fastenings on Mick's jeans.

Mick groaned, and arched into Josef's touch as Josef's fingers found their mark.

"This is what you came up here for isn't it, Mick?" Josef trailed a series of kisses along Mick's throat, his hand stroking a steady rhythm along the length of Mick's exposed cock.

"No, actually I just came up here to see how you were," Mick groaned again, louder this time, his breath hitching, "but this…this is good."

The rest of Mick's words were swallowed by Josef's lips pressing against his own. And then Josef was urging Mick to stand, stripping him out of the remainder of his garments. Before pressing Mick face forward onto the desk, and then stepping back to follow suit with his own.

"I take it Uncle Josef's having one of his good days then," Roisin smiled, and gestured a casual finger towards the increasingly loud ruckus coming from upstairs.

"Well if he wasn't before, he certainly is now." Katherine arched a pointed eyebrow at her daughter, and tried not to burst out laughing too loudly. And then the time for shared jokes was over, as Katherine cleared her throat, and muttered a hurried announcement to no one in particular, "I'd better go tell them to keep it down."

"No, Mum, leave it." Roisin caught her Mother's arm as Katherine went to walk by, "it's kind of comforting listening to them, in a way."

"Oh," Katherine regarded her daughter's now contemplative expression with a puzzled eye, "in what way, sweetheart?"

"Well," Roisin shrugged, and took a few mouthfuls from the glass of juice on the table in front of her, before pushing her chair back and getting to her feet, "at least it lets us know, no matter how fucked up this family becomes, some things never change."

And then Roisin turned heel and strode from her mother's sight without saying another word. Leaving Katherine to watch after her daughter's retreating form, brow furrowed with concern, and a horrid sense of déjà vu weighing in on her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_People often expect insanity to come accompanied by a lot of fanfare, a giant flashing sign, complete with bells and whistles, that announces with all the pomp and ceremony it can muster, "Warning, derangement ahead." _

_The truth is far more mundane. Madness often comes not with a bang, but a whimper; a thief in the night, stealing synapses, and disconnecting neurons. _

_Years later, when Mick was asked to recall his own observations of the exact moment Josef's own synapses and neurons flew apart, the only analogy he could think of was that it was like water cascading over a hill. It seemed to start as a trickle, grew to a steady flow, and then rushed forth as a deluge. It seemed to happen in stages, building gradually, and yet come at once, all at the same time._

_That and how ordinarily mundane that particular day had been. It had started as a day much like any other. No fanfare, no pomp and ceremony, and no warning of how things would end.__  
_

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Josef awoke to find Mick grinning down at him, a little too chipper, in Josef's opinion, for that particular time of the morning.

"Morning." Josef mumbled a half hearted reply, still trying to blink back layers of sleep. A note of disapproval masked his expression, brow beginning to furrow, and lips pursed in annoyance. And then he was sitting up, and waving a lackadaisical hand through the air, brushing aside Mick's words with a half stifled, yawned declaration of, "At least you didn't call me baby."

"Yeah, so just be grateful for small mercies," Mick parried back with a quick laugh, and a teasing smile formed on his lips, "And I'm pretty sure I've greeted you with words to that effect before, Josef."

"I'm sure you probably have, Mick." Josef stretched, and then began to climb out of the freezer, "and I'm sure I was probably just as unimpressed with them then as I am now."

Mick couldn't help but let out another burst of laughter at Josef's arched brow grin beaming down at him, his head cocked in a haughty display of quipped indignation. At that moment he couldn't have cared less if Josef disapproved of certain terms of endearment or not. Josef was being Josef, and Mick was enjoying every moment.

"So I should add 'Sleeping Beauty' to the checklist of things I'm never supposed to call you?" Mick's pretense at being serious was belied by the unsuppressed grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Josef rolled his eyes, and shot Mick a devastatingly sarcastic smile in reply. Before bending back down into the freezer, and covering Mick's mouth with his own in a brief kiss.

"I'm going to take a shower, are you coming?" Josef straightened back up, and pretended to inspect his fingernails for a moment as he waited for Mick to respond.

"I don't know, am I?"

"What is this, the Mick St John comedy hour?" Mick's half mocking, half hinting reply was met with a faux scoff of indignation, and another pointedly sarcastic smile being aimed in his direction.

And then Josef was turning heel and striding away, waving a hand over his shoulder, and declaring matter of fact, "You can come have a shower with me, or stay there and take care of yourself."

Mick didn't need to be given a second invitation. In the time it had taken Josef to say those words, Mick had already clambered out of the cold receptacle he lay in, and covered the distance separating them in one fluid, inhuman rush of movement.

Moments later they were both collapsing to the tiled floor of the bathroom in a heated tangle of limbs and fangs, chests vibrating as they growled into each others mouths, and drowned each other in a torrent of kisses.

"Oh, shit," Mick clenched his teeth, and drew in a sharp breath as Josef hooked Mick's legs over his shoulders and thrust the full length of himself hard into Mick's body. Penetration facilitated by a hurried application of makeshift lubricant retrieved from a stray bottle of body lotion lying next to them.  
_  
__"I love you." _

If Mick had known then that was to be the last time he would hear Josef say those words to him in close to a decade, he might have been tempted to record the moment. To have something tangible to hold onto, something that could be replayed over, and over again. A remembrance of happier times providing comfort during the long nights that lay ahead.

As it was he was too caught up in the myriad of sensations humming through him as Josef's cock pounded into his arse, to think much of anything. He had barely managed an intelligible reply of, "Ditto", before the first waves of orgasm crashed over him.

Eyes squeezed shut, and nails raking across the flesh of Josef's back, Mick sank sharp teeth into soft skin, and growled his way furiously through repeated crests of pleasure.

When the last residual pulsations of his climax were finally spent, Mick opened his eyes to see Josef grinning down at him, two rapidly healing puncture wounds on the top of Mick's left shoulder the evidence of Josef's own release.

"Have fun?"

"What do you think?" Mick rolled his eyes, and snorted a laugh at Josef's teasing expression.

"Well considering you just damn near ripped my throat out, I'd say…" Josef pretended to think for a moment, "I'd say, I don't even need to ask, do I?"

"No, you don't." Mick matched Josef's arched brow grin with a pointed smile of his own.

'Come on," Josef leant forward to place a quick kiss on Mick's lips then, before withdrawing from Mick's space, and getting to his feet, "let's get cleaned up, get dressed, and head downstairs. I do believe there's a bottle of AB Negative with my name on it down there somewhere."

_The last time, in close to a decade…_

"What's a four letter word that means to cry out in surprise?"

Roisin lay on the floor of the living room, a crossword book spread out in front of her, brow furrowed in concentration.

"Mick." Josef's quick off the mark reply was steeped with absolute certainty.

"A four letter word that means to cry out in surprise…Mick?" Mick turned to Josef seated beside him on the couch, his expression couched in disbelief, "Josef, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."

"What?" Josef cocked his head, and raised an eyebrow at Mick's scrunched brow look of puzzlement, "it makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, to you, maybe." Mick shot Josef a quick sideways glance, and then raised his eyes skywards, and shook his head.

"Oh I'm sorry," the cheeky grin plastered across Josef's features betrayed his attempts at affecting a look of perfect innocence, "was it meant to make sense to someone else besides me, was it?"

For a moment Mick was tempted to smack Josef's insolence. And then he found himself doubling over with laughter instead, much to Josef's amusement.

Any ideas they might have had then of spending the rest of the evening continuing to share easy banter, and swapping laughs, were quashed by a sudden knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Mick muttered under his breath, as he headed off to see who their unexpected visitor might be. He returned a few moments later, looking decidedly grim faced and nervous, with August Vasilescu following close behind.

"No, don't get up, that's fine, please." Auguste gestured politely for Josef to stay in his seat, pointedly ignoring the fact that Josef hadn't even made the slightest attempt to move since Auguste had entered the room.

"I take it you're here on business then?" Mick cleared his throat, and addressed Auguste with deferential politeness as he retook his own seat.

"I think you've already established that fact, St John." Auguste returned Mick's deference with a quick bow of his head.

So far Auguste appeared to pose no threat. Nevertheless Josef still kept watch on the elder Vampire, his eyes tracking Auguste's every move. Mick did the same, his own gaze locked wholly on Josef. Poised ready to spring into action if Josef decided he was going to do anything ill advised.

Auguste turned his attention to Roisin then, instructing her with a quick smile to, "Go fetch your Mother."

Mick and Josef exchanged concerned glances. The atmosphere in the room seemed to shift, crackling with anticipation. Something wasn't right. Mick had been reminded of his own privilege as a non Elder in being allowed to participate in the affairs of the Order, often enough. Katherine being summoned when Auguste claimed to be there 'on business', broke nearly every protocol in the book.

"Hello, Katherine." Auguste greeted Katherine's appearance with a measured smile.

'What's going on?" Katherine's own confused expression blended easily with the other puzzled looks gathered in the room.

"There are some people here to see your daughter." Auguste gestured a quick instruction for Roisin to open the front door, and let whoever was waiting outside into the house.

"What do you mean, what 'people', what do they want with Roisin?" Josef spoke then, his voice bristling with dark command.

And then Josef's demands for an explanation were halted by the re-appearance of Roisin. Two mortal figures, followed closely behind, one male, and one female, flanked on either side by a pair of Legion Assassins. Flamethrowers in hand trained preemptively on the two male Vampires in front of them.

"Katherine, Mick, Josef," Auguste nodded to each one of them in turn, and then gestured a hand towards their uninvited guests, "this is Tristan and Isolde, not their real names of course, the current high ranked leaders in command of that which we know of as 'The Legion'."

"Mum," Roisin stepped forward, and tried to counter her Mother's bewildered expression with a gentle smile, and a tender embrace, "I'm going to go with them, ok?"

"What," Katherine held her daughter at arms length, her voice rising an octave as she searched her daughter's expression in blind panic, "Roisin, no. What on earth are you talking about?"

"Mr Vasilescu's worked out a deal," Roisin tried to remain upbeat in the face of her Mother's increasing anguish, "I go with them now, and get to grow up as a normal, mortal girl surrounded by people of my own kind. And in return they leave you, and Uncle Mick, and Uncle Josef, and the rest of the Vampire nation alone. No more fighting, no more having to hide away, and live in fear."

"Roisin, please," Katherine pleaded with her daughter to see sense, "you don't what you're saying, you're sixteen years old for Christ sake, you're still a child. How the hell can you even think you know what you're doing?"

"But I'm not a child though, am I, Mum?" Roisin spoke those words clear, and determined, "I haven't been a child for a long time. I've had to grow up fast, remember?"

Later, when asked to recall the final events of that evening, Mick would remember that everything seemed to unfold as a series of snapshot moments in time.

Katherine, pleading, clinging to her daughter and screaming with Vampiric fury, before Auguste Vasilescu himself dragged her off. And Roisin, valiantly trying to ignore her Mother's cries as she turned heel, and allowed herself to be lead away by her newfound mortal companions.

And in the midst of it all, set against the backdrop of Katherine's howls of anguish echoing through the night, Josef stood stock still, and silent. And quietly took leave of his senses without any further preamble.

A stealing of synapses; and a disconnection of neurons, Josef mentally slow danced his way into complete madness. Heel, toe, pivot and turn…

…And then a swan dive descent, into the maelstrom.

-----------------------------

_**Epilogue. **_

Mick sat on the couch, in the almost empty expanse of their living room, and strained his ears for a moment, listening to the nighttime sounds of the wilderness that surrounded them. Paris was a distant five year memory. Home for them now was a dilapidated stone house, situated amidst the relative isolation of the Carpathian Mountains, on the Hungarian side of the border.

Josef lay on the stone floor at Mick's feet, naked, having steadfastly resisted all of Mick's earlier attempts to have him dressed. Mick hoped Josef's unclad state wasn't a precursor to another night spent chasing his husband through the bramble and thickets of their forest surrounds, as Josef took off on one of his imaginary hunts.

"Having fun?" Mick reached a hand down to stroke Josef's forehead, brushing aside stray locks of hair. Josef's face was a mask of deranged concentration, watching a line of ants as they marched by, occasionally squashing one of the poor, unsuspecting creatures under his thumb and forefinger.

Mick hesitated for a moment, half hoping Josef would respond, and knowing deep down he wouldn't. Josef hadn't responded to anyone since that night in Paris. And then he caressed another hand over the top of Josef's skull, and reached for the Guitar that lay on the couch beside him.  
_  
__Not just any Guitar, a Robert Johnson Original…Rare as hen's teeth with a price tag to match. _

Keeping a careful watch on Josef, Mick began to play. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could at least get some semblance of a response this way. He strummed a few loose chords, and then launched into a rendition of an Irish Ballad he had once heard.

_My heart goes out to you, poor weary wanderer…_

Very slowly, Josef shifted from the floor, and clambered onto the couch to curl up in Mick's lap.  
_  
__…First to travel this world alone, first to wander away from home_

Mick rested the Guitar against the top of Josef's shoulder, and continued to pluck at its strings…long into the night.


End file.
